Kenya shilling barely moved vs dollar

(Reuters) - The Kenya shilling was little changed against the dollar in quiet trade on Monday, dealers said.

At 0835 GMT, commercial banks traded the unit at 68.75/85 to the dollar, compared with Friday's closing price of 68.80/90.


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Higher crude oil, Iran tensions lift gold prices

(Reuters) - Gold rebounded on safe-haven buying on Monday, with oil prices rising on heightened tensions between Iran and the West after Tehran vowed to continue its nuclear programme.

But investors remained cautious in chasing prices higher because of recent sell-offs and ahead of the book-closing at the end of the current fiscal year in March.


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Malawi sees low tobacco production, better prices

(Reuters) - Malawi's tobacco production this year is expected to drop to 141,000 tonnes from 158,000 tonnes last year because of too much rain, the Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) said on Monday.

"We expect a drop of 10.14 percent this year because of heavy rains experienced in most tobacco growing areas," TCC said in a statement.


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S.Africa maize stocks dip to 2.846 mln T at end Feb

(Reuters) - South Africa's maize carryover stocks dipped to 2.846 million tonnes at the end of February from 3.427 million tonnes the previous month, data showed on Tuesday.

That included 475,000 tonnes of yellow maize and 2.371 million tonnes of white maize, the South African Grain Information Service said in its monthly bulletin.


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S.Africa's Mittal to unveil $83 mln kilns investment

(Reuters) - South Africa's Mittal Steel, a unit of the world's top steel group, said on Monday it would announce a 600 million rand kilns project at its main Vanderbijlpark plant on Thursday.

Mittal SA, which is 52 percent owned by Arcelor Mittal, has already said it plans to spend 9 billion rand in a capital expenditure programme over a number of years, and the 600 million was part of that amount.


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Mauritius sees 2006 jobless rate dipping to 9.1 pct

(Reuters) - The Mauritius unemployment rate is expected to have dropped to 9.1 percent in 2006 from 9.6 percent the year before, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Monday.

"Unemployment rate for the year 2006 is estimated at 9.1 percent against 9.6 percent in 2005," it said in a statement on its Web site, quoting data collected between October and December 2006.


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Algeria's Skikda oil port open as weather improves

(Reuters) - Algerian oil ports Skikda and Bejaia have reopened after bad weather forced them to close for most of last week, shipping agents said on Monday.

Last week the two ports, both in eastern Algeria, as well as the western Algerian ports of Arzew and Bethouia, were forced to close due to heavy swell and strong winds.


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