Market reforms introduced by Uzbekistan's new president Shavkat Mirziyoyev since December 2016 have attracted companies such as General Motors (NYSE:GM), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and John Deere (NYSE:DE) to enter the market. seekingalpha.com/article/427423…

Kazakhstan’s Astana International Exchange (AIX) has introduced four initiatives including securities lending and borrowing, covered short selling, multi-currency settlement and a new custody model. securitieslendingtimes.com/securitieslend…

Nigeria’s benchmark index has declined 13% in the five months since Buhari was re-elected. There is mounting investor frustration over a lack of policy progress since elections in February — Buhari has yet to announce his cabinet, bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Uzbekistan’s closed-end fund Oltin is set to become the country's first internationally listed security. On July 23, the fund will be listed on the Specialist Fund Segment of the LSE. Uzbekistan also issued a sovereign eurobond issued earlier this year. intellinews.com/frontier-marke…

Foreign investments in Myanmar rose 79% on the year for the six months os 2019, reaching $2.35 billion. Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong money accounts for 84 of the 134 newly approved investments. asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Myanma…

French car giant Renault plans to assemble two low-cost vehicles — Logans and Dusters — in Nigeria via a joint venture with the local conglomerate Coscharis beginning in October 2019 in their existing Lagos facility. automotiveworld.com/news-releases/…

Chinese startup Genghis Khan Airlines had its maiden flight from Hohhot to Ulanhot in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region with the home-made ARJ21 regional jet on Friday. The carrier is the first airline to fly with the ARJ21.

The dollar, the euro, the yen — and now the West African eco bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Oway, Myanmar's largest online travel and ride-hailing company, has to date raised total funds of $24.7 million from investors including the IFC and Northstar Group. It's next financing round will be one of the largest in the country. asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks…

ShweProperty, one of Myanmar’s leading property portals, just raised US$3M. ShweProperty is pitted against iMyanmarHouse.com which launched in 2013. e27.co/exclusive-shwe…

African online retailer Jumia is now trading at 78% discount to its IPO price per share after going public in April 2019 seekingalpha.com/article/428754…

#Turkey central bank's net funding to banks dips to 6-year low as lenders rely on internal and market liquidity options. NI TBN <GO>

Brazil's real slides to new low through 4.34/$, bringing year-to-date losses vs dollar to 7.5%. That makes it the worst-performing EM currency in the world so far this year. tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

Security Briefing: Patterns Emerging in Hong Kong Bomb Threats frontera.net/news/security-…

A Hong Kong penny stock is up 129% because it said it would make masks. bloomberg.com/news/articles/… by Jeanny Yu

Lebanon's bond holders may have to take a 70% hair cut. That would wipe out banks’ capital, and the cost of re-capitalising would be approx 25% of GDP. As in Egypt in 2016, the IMF is likely to precondition any deal with a devaluation of the Lebanese pound reuters.com/article/lebano…

The S&P 500 has never declined on a day when jobless claims were a million or more.

Doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa is more expensive than many people expect.

Just to put things into perspective: Bank of #Japan owns almost 80% of all ETFs domiciled in #Japan. (via DB)

The road to fiat currency crisis is being paved by governments raiding their own central banks. Which parody fiat funeral procession is next?