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News Shell declares force majeure on fuel in South Africa IMF to lower global growth forecasts: German paper S.Africa's rand under pressure, eyes three-year low Shell declares force majeure on fuel in S.Africa London needs four-runway airport - study Toyota China sales tumble as islands row hits Japan Inc S.Africa's Sept net reserves edge up to $48.748 bln JPMorgan Chase head of corporate affairs to leave: WSJ Gold hits 11-month high, extends gains to fifth day Brent slips below $112 ahead of US jobs data S&P 500 on verge of 5-year high day ahead of jobs data Seychelles yr/yr inflation eases to 7.7 pct in Sept Bollore aims to double Abidjan port container capacity by 2015 Weak U.S. labor market looms ahead of elections Analysis: Investors fret over MSCI outlook as ETF price war bites Shell declares force majeure on fuel in South Africa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Shell has declared force majeure on fuel deliveries in South Africa's economic hub of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, due to a two-week strike by more than 20,000 truck drivers, the company said on Friday. "There is fuel available across the country so the issue is not fuel supply but the challenge is delivering it safely to our retail sites," Shell said in an emailed response to questions. ... Full Story Top IMF to lower global growth forecasts: German paper BERLIN (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund will lower its forecasts for global economic growth to 3.3 percent this year and 3.6 percent in 2013 from earlier forecasts of 3.4 percent and 3.9 percent respectively, a Germany newspaper reported on Friday. The IMF expects the euro zone economy to shrink by 0.4 percent this year and then grow 0.2 percent in 2013, business daily Handelsblatt said in a preview of the fund's latest forecasts which are due to be released next week. Chinese growth for 2013 is seen at 8.2 percent, versus a previous IMF estimate of 8. ... Full Story Top S.Africa's rand under pressure, eyes three-year low JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand remained under pressure on Friday with early June's three year lows within easy reach as investors fretted over strikes that began in the mining sector but which appear to be spreading to other parts of Africa's biggest economy. The rand was at 8.5750 to the greenback by 0644 GMT, down 0.7 percent from Thursday's close at 8.5160. It briefly touched an 18-week low of 8.5918, taking it closer to a three-year low of 8.71 touched on June 1. "We are being driven by continued bad news on the labour front. ... Full Story Top Shell declares force majeure on fuel in S.Africa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Shell has declared force majeure on fuel deliveries in South Africa's economic hub of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, due to a two-week strike by more than 20,000 truck drivers, the company said on Friday. "There is fuel available across the country so the issue is not fuel supply but the challenge is delivering it safely to our retail sites," Shell said in an emailed response to questions. ... Full Story Top London needs four-runway airport - study LONDON (Reuters) - Britain needs to build a four-runway airport in west London or north of the capital if it wants to compete with other European hubs, according to a report by UK think tank Policy Exchange. Construction of a four runway airport close to the current Heathrow hub in west London is the best option for the UK, with a four-runway airport in Luton, north of London, the next-best solution to the capacity crunch at UK airports, said the study. ... Full Story Top Toyota China sales tumble as islands row hits Japan Inc BEIJING (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp's China sales fell about 40 percent in September from the year before, while those of rivals such as Hyundai and BMW jumped, underscoring how badly Japanese brands have been hit by a territorial row between the two countries. Showroom traffic and sales have plunged at Japanese car makers since violent protests and calls for boycotts of Japanese products broke out across China in mid-September over the Japanese government's purchase of a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea from their private owner. ... Full Story Top S.Africa's Sept net reserves edge up to $48.748 bln JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's net gold and foreign exchange reserves rose to $48.748 billion at the end of September from $48.278 billion in August, data from the Reserve Bank showed on Friday. Gross reserves were at $50.979 billion in September from $49.991 billion in August while the forward position, which represents the bank's unsettled spot or swap transactions, fell to $5.623 billion from $5.937 billion in August. Full Story Top JPMorgan Chase head of corporate affairs to leave: WSJ (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co's head of corporate and regulatory affairs, Barry Zubrow, is expected to give up his job, a Wall Street Journal report said. It is possible that Barry Zubrow, 59, will remain with the investment bank in an advisory role, the report said, quoting people close to the bank. JPMorgan Chase could not be reached for comment outside business hours. Zubrow was replaced as chief risk officer, a position he held from late 2007, in January. His brother-in-law, Irvin Goldman, who was briefly chief risk officer of the chief investment office that lost $5. ... Full Story Top Gold hits 11-month high, extends gains to fifth day SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold hit an 11-month high on Friday in its fifth day of gains as stimulus measures from major central banks continued to increase its appeal as an inflation hedge, while investors awaited more trading direction from key U.S. jobs data due later in the day. The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday and said it was ready to buy government bonds of debt-laden nations, triggering a rally in the euro and pushing gold closer to $1,800 - a level that has not been breached since November last year. ... Full Story Top Brent slips below $112 ahead of US jobs data SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent futures slipped below $112 per barrel on Friday, but they are on course to end a choppy week nearly flat as rising tensions in the Middle East battle with perennial worries about the global economy and oil demand. Strains in the Middle East escalated this week after Turkey stepped up its strikes against Syria and won parliamentary approval for further military action, pushing Brent prices up 4 percent on Thursday. ... Full Story Top S&P 500 on verge of 5-year high day ahead of jobs data NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 extended gains to a fourth day on Thursday, putting it on the cusp of a new five-year high if Friday's jobs report shows encouraging signs for the labor market. The rally was broad, with all 10 S&P 500 sectors up and financials in the lead. The S&P's financial index gained 1.5 percent. In the tech arena, Google Inc shares hit a new 52-week high of $769.89 earlier in the session. The stock ended up 0.7 percent at $768.05. ... Full Story Top Seychelles yr/yr inflation eases to 7.7 pct in Sept VICTORIA (Reuters) - Consumer prices in Seychelles rose 0.3 percent in September from a month before, pushing the year-on-year inflation rate to 7.7 percent from 7.8 percent in August, the government statistics office said on Friday. The National Bureau of Statistics said fish prices increased by 3.6 percent from a month earlier, when they rose 6.2 percent. Other food costs were up 0.2 percent and non-food items jumped 0.1 percent. In the non-food category, the main increase in clothing and footwear, which rose 2.5 percent from August. Full Story Top Bollore aims to double Abidjan port container capacity by 2015 ABIDJAN (Reuters) - French industrial conglomerate Bollore plans to spend up to $79 million by 2015 to double capacity at the container terminal it manages at Ivory Coast's main port of Abidjan, the head of the group's Africa division said. Once an economic motor for French-speaking West Africa, Ivory Coast is recovering from a decade of political turmoil and has launched an ambitious development plan focused heavily on renewing long-neglected infrastructure. "We will again make a significant investment to double the capacity to process ships... ... Full Story Top Weak U.S. labor market looms ahead of elections WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fears of government austerity likely kept U.S. job gains modest and the unemployment rate elevated in September, an outcome that could weigh on President Barack Obama's re-election bid. Employers are expected to have added 113,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, according to a Reuters survey of economists. That would be up from 96,000 in August, but it would still fall short of what is needed to cut the jobless rate. Indeed, economists expect the unemployment rate, a key focus in the race for the White House, to tick up by a tenth of a percentage point to 8. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Investors fret over MSCI outlook as ETF price war bites (Reuters) - Just four weeks ago, an MSCI executive was crowing about his company's near-monopoly on providing critical benchmark stock market indexes which are licensed by fund companies around the world. "It's the only part of our business in which we have a committed strategy of trying to utilize a little bit of pricing power and raise prices a little bit every year," Edings Thibault, MSCI's head of investor relations, told investors at UBS's Best of Americas conference in London on September 7. ... Full Story Top

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