ECONOMY & MARKETS

Tanzania's top-grade coffee fetched an all-time high at this week's auction as the harvest of high-quality supply dwindled, traders said on Friday.

Burundi's annual inflation rate dropped to 6.5 percent last year from 10.5 percent 2009 thanks to lower food costs, but prices will likely rise again in 2011, the country's statistics board said on Friday.

Algerian food processor Cevital expects to increase raw sugar imports this year to 1.6 million tonnes to allow it to double exports of white sugar from its refinery, Cevital's chief executive said.

Egypt's banks will be shut on Sunday, the first day of the business week, the deputy central bank governor said, a move analysts said could spook investors looking to trade after unprecedented countrywide protests.

China has no need to revalue its yuan currency for trade reasons, as export growth will slow to a still strong 10 percent this year and its surplus is set to contract by 2015, its trade chief said on Friday.

China faces great pressure in securing its food supply in the next five years due to accelerating domestic demand, a senior official was quoted as saying in local media on Saturday.

Baselworld, the world's premier watch and jewelry show, is adopting new communication channels to promote the importance of the trade show for the luxury goods industry.

Gold surged 2 percent on Friday, gaining as much as $40 per ounce in a knee-jerk rally as fears that unrest in Egypt would spread across the Middle East prompted safe-haven buying. It's the largest one-day gain in nearly two months.

Earnings reports and acquisition announcements took a back seat to the violent unrest in Egypt today, as U.S. stocks fall.

Despite Verizon's announced intention to acquire Terremark for $1.4 billion, are down virtually across across the board amid violent uprisings in Middle East.

British Petroleum (NYSE: BP) is said to be considering spilling cash – not oil – to its public shareholders. Shareholders of the oil giant, which is infamous for being responsible for the oil spill off the Gulf coast region in June, the worst oil spill in history, are calling for the company to pay a dividend once again

South Africa has taken measures to counter capital inflows but the rand is still overvalued, the country's finance minister said on Friday.

Gold Bullion prices failed to rally from last night's tumble in Asian and London trade on Friday, extending the month's sharp losses and hitting to four-month lows in the US Dollar and six-month lows against the Swiss Franc and commodity currency Aussie and Canadian Dollars.

US stocks advanced slightly in early trade on Friday after government data showed that US economic activity grew at a 3.2 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter.

The China Gold Association estimates... that the demand for gold in the first half of the year will rise by 15 percent year on year, citing growing demand for alternative investments and protection against inflation, said Commerzbank in a note.

Hedge fund SHK Asset Management liquidated a U.S. gold futures position this week valued at over $850 million, more than 10 percent of the main U.S. futures market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to an advanced estimate by the U.S. Commerce Department, up from 2.6 percent growth in the third quarter.

Hedge-fund manager John Paulson made a profit of more than $5 billion personally last year which is likely the largest single-year gain in investing history, says a media report.

The companies that reported earnings before the markets open on Friday are: Ford Motor, Chevron Corp., Honeywell International, Dominion and Dover.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Friday are: Sara Lee, Micron Technology, Bank of America, Amazon, Ford Motor and Carnival Corp.

Egyptian stocks plunged more than 10 percent on Thursday, the second biggest one day drop in its history, following two days of clashes between police and anti-government demonstrators which left six dead.

The companies which are expected to see active trade on Friday are: Microsoft, Amazon, Ford Motor, Chevron, Honeywell International, Dominion Resources and American Electric Power.

Consumer confidence in the UK fell in January to the lowest level in two years, a survey showed on Friday.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: PMC-Sierra, Thoratec, Amazon.com, Digital River, Amedisys, Werner Enterprises, Tessera Technologies, LTX-Credence, PSS World Medical, and Patterson-UTI Energy.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Terremark Worldwide, Oplink Communications, TeleNav, Coherent, SAVVIS, Lattice Semiconductor, Internap Network Services, ScanSource, Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, and Equinix.

China aims to double its level of imports in five years, its commerce minister said on Thursday, forecasting that U.S. exports to China would double to $200 billion over the same period.

The S&P 500 index surpassed the 1300-point level twice today, the first time the index reached that plateau since August, 2008, as U.S. stocks finished slightly up today on mixed earnings reports.

The S&P 500 broke the 1,300-point threshold for the first time since August, 2008 as gold plummeted and U.S. stocks rose slightly.

China's annual inflation will probably top 6 percent around the middle of 2011 before losing steam in the second half of the year, the Bank of Communications said on Thursday.