African Markets - Factors to watch on Feb 22

NAIROBI, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic
indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on
Wednesday.

- - - - -
EVENTS:
*NAMIBIA - Namibia's Central Bank meets to make a decision on its benchmark
rate. It left its benchmark rate unchanged at 6.0 percent in December to support
recovery in the domestic economy.
*KENYA - Central Bank of Kenya to auction a one-year Treasury bond worth 10
billion shillings and a sells a 12-year infrastructure bond worth up to 17.7
billion shilllings in an extended tap sale. The bank will also auction 182-day
Treasury bills worth 3 billion shillings.
*TANZANIA - The central Bank of Tanzania auctions a 10-year Treasury bond worth
a total 20 billion Tanzanian shillings.
*MAURITIUS - Bank of Mauritius auctions a five-year bond with a 6.75 percent
coupon worth 1.5 billion rupees.
*KENYA - Housing Finance releases its full year 2011 earnings results.
The mortgage lender posted a 60 percent rise in 2010 pretax profit to 561
million shillings.

GLOBAL MARKETS
Asia markets slipped on Wednesday as relief over Greece's latest bailout turned
to doubts that the debt-stricken country can keep to its austerity programme and
concern about rising oil prices.

WORLD OIL PRICES
Brent crude fell toward $121 on Wednesday, retreating from a nine-month high, as
China's manufacturing sector shrank for a fourth straight month and worries
about the euro zone debt crisis resurfaced, casting doubt on global economic
health and prospects for fuel demand.

EMERGING MARKETS
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SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South African stocks edged up 0.15 percent on Tuesday, with some gold firms such
as Harmony HARJ.J and banks ticking higher after the long-awaited Greek bailout
deal soothed concerns about a default in the euro zone.

Also, government bonds weakened on Tuesday, with investors trading
cautiously as they waited to see what Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's budget
says about the deficit and borrowing plans.

NIGERIA PETROLEUM
Attacks on oil pipelines, a dearth of funding from the state oil firm and
regulatory uncertainty have dampened appetite for exploration of Nigeria's huge
oil and gas reserves, its biggest producer Royal Dutch Shell said on
Tuesday.

KENYA MARKETS
The Kenyan shilling closed at 82.95/83.15 against the dollar, up from an
intraday low of 83.60/80, and 0.4 percent stronger than Monday's close of
83.25/45.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange's main NSE-20 Share Index eked out
a 0.2 percent gain to close at 3,183.01 points, as the market waited for more
firms to post their full year results.

TULLOW OIL UGANDA
British oil firm Tullow Oil said a long-awaited $2.9 billion deal to
bring in French oil major Total and Chinese group CNOOC as
partners to develop its oil fields in Uganda closed on Tuesday, paving the way
for commercial oil production to start in the African country.

TANZANIA OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION
British gas and oil firm BG Group plans to step up its presence in gas
exploration in east Africa's second-biggest economy by investing $500 million in
Tanzania this year, the government said on Tuesday.

IVORY COAST COCOA
Exports of cocoa beans and cocoa products from Ivory Coast hit 640,492 tonnes by
Feb. 5 since the start of the season in October, down about 1 percent from a
year earlier, data from industry regulator BCC obtained by Reuters showed on
Tuesday.

ZIMBABWE POLITICS
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe turned 88 on Tuesday, joking about reports
circulating for years of his imminent demise and vowing to stay in power despite
international condemnation of his economic and human rights record.

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