LONDON (Reuters) – The political upheaval in Tunisia has dealt a heavy blow to planned stock and bond listings in the country and also has the potential to send rising portfolio flows across North Africa and the Gulf into reverse.

Repercussions from the violent protests that unseated the regime of President Zine-al-Abidine Ben Ali on Friday are being felt from Jordan to Morocco, with stock and currency markets falling and debt insurance costs surging across the region.

LONDON (Reuters) – The political upheaval in Tunisia has dealt a heavy blow to planned stock and bond listings in the country and also has the potential to send rising portfolio flows across North Africa and the Gulf into reverse.

Repercussions from the violent protests that unseated the regime of President Zine-al-Abidine Ben Ali on Friday are being felt from Jordan to Morocco, with stock and currency markets falling and debt insurance costs surging across the region.

LONDON (Reuters) – The clock is ticking for Ivory Coast to pay interest on a $2.3 billion (1.5 billion pounds) bond and investors are sceptical the West African country, in the midst of a tense political stand-off, will avoid its second debt default in little over a decade.

Ivory Coast owes nearly $30 million on the bond after failing to make a payment last week but has a 30-day grace period, until the end of January, before it would be declared in default.

LONDON (Reuters) – The clock is ticking for Ivory Coast to pay interest on a $2.3 billion bond and investors are skeptical the West African country, in the midst of a tense political stand-off, will avoid its second debt default in little over a decade.

Ivory Coast owes nearly $30 million on the bond after failing to make a payment last week but has a 30-day grace period, until the end of January, before it would be declared in default.

LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Crisis-torn Ivory Coast has missed
a coupon payment on its $2.3 billion Eurobond that was due on
Friday, but a month grace period means it is not yet in default,
the London Club of commercial creditors said on Monday.

The West African nation has been engulfed in a violent power
struggle since a disputed Nov. 28 election left two men each
claiming to be president and setting up rival governments.

LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks approached their highest since September 2008 on Thursday on optimism about global growth next year, while the dollar fell on expectations of further money-printing in 2011 by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

With markets focused on growth prospects for China, a private survey on Thursday showed the country’s vast manufacturing sector continued to expand strongly towards the year-end, albeit at a slightly slower pace than in November.

LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks approached their highest since September 2008 on Thursday on optimism about global growth next year, while the dollar fell on expectations of further money-printing in 2011 by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

With markets focused on growth prospects for China, a private survey on Thursday showed the country’s vast manufacturing sector continued to expand strongly toward the year-end, albeit at a slightly slower pace than in November.

LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) – World stocks approached their
highest since September 2008 on Thursday on optimism about
global growth next year, while the dollar fell on expectations
of further money-printing in 2011 by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

With markets focused on growth prospects for China, a
private survey on Thursday showed the country’s vast
manufacturing sector continued to expand strongly towards the
year-end, albeit at a slightly slower pace than in November.
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LONDON (Reuters) – Emerging market debt issuance is likely to fall in 2011 from this year’s record levels, as competition from euro zone borrowers and rising U.S. Treasury yields sap demand for the asset class and raise funding costs.

Emerging market borrowers issued a record amount of new debt this year, spurred on by their own financing needs and by investor enthusiasm for riskier assets due to rock-bottom yields and money-printing in the developed world.

LONDON (Reuters) – South Africa, the largest economy in Africa, is eager for elevation to the coveted BRIC status of emerging markets, but investors say Nigeria is a more probable African contender, even if promotion for either is some way off.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, at last month’s G20 meeting in South Korea, said South Africa had “applied” to join the four-member BRIC grouping of fast-growing emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India and China.