NEW YORK (AP) — Reassuring comments from a Federal Reserve official and better earnings from two big retailers helped push the stock market higher Tuesday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's JSE Top-40 blue-chip index hit a lifetime high on Tuesday as a weaker rand currency at helped boost some exporters such as Anglo American and Kumba Iron Ore. Exporters benefit from a depreciating rand, which lifts their profits when overseas earnings are brought home. The index rose 1.37 percent to 37,044.09.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's CFC Stanbic Bank posted a 79.5 percent jump in pretax profit for the first quarter from a year ago to 1.46 billion shillings. Banks in east Africa's biggest economy have reported higher earnings for the first three months of this year, buoyed by the growth of lending on the back of a robust economy in the region. CFC Stanbic, which is controlled by South Africa's Standard Group, said on Tuesday its net interest income increased to 1.75 billion shillings as interest paid on deposits tumbled after policymakers cut lending rates. Earnings per share rose to 5. ...

By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc will argue for a comprehensive corporate tax reform that will levy a "reasonable tax" on foreign earnings and is not dependent on a company's revenue when it goes before a Senate panel on Tuesday to explain its offshore tax practices. In prepared testimony released by the company and submitted ahead of Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook's hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Apple denied it employed "tax gimmicks" like using Cayman Islands bank accounts or shifting intellectual property abroad. ...

ALGIERS (Reuters) - The value of Algeria's oil and gas exports, which account for about 97 of total sales abroad, fell by 9 percent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2012 due to lower global crude prices, official figures showed on Monday. That pushed the OPEC member north African country's trade surplus down 39 percent to $7.16 billion in the January-April period of 2013, according to data released by the customs department and reported by the official APS news agency. Earnings from energy exports dropped to $24.1 billion from $26. ...

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius's earnings from tourism dropped 12.4 percent from a year earlier to 12.06 billion rupees in the first three months of this year as the weak economic environment in Europe hurt visitors' spending. Statistics Mauritius cut its forecast for visitor arrivals this year to 990,000 from a previous estimate of 1 million, but said it expected tourism revenue to increase to 46.1 billion rupees, from 44.3 billion in 2012. Visitor numbers grew 1. ...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Vodacom Group reported a 23 percent rise in full-year profit on Monday underpinned by a strong performance by its African subsidiaries and growth in data usage. The unit of Britain's Vodafone Group said diluted headline earnings per share, which is the benchmark measure of profit in South Africa, totalled 870.2 cents in the year to end- March, from 706 cents a year earlier. The company had previously said headline earnings would rise by 25 percent higher. ...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Netcare Ltd, Africa's third-biggest private hospital group, posted a 25 percent rise in half-year profit on Monday, helped by a strong performance in South Africa and favourable currency swings. Netcare, which also runs hospitals in Britain, said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 65.8 cents in the six months to end-March compared with 52.7 cents a year earlier. ...

By Caroline Copley BERNE (Reuters) - Switzerland outlined plans on Friday to reform the way it taxes companies as it seeks to counter criticism from Brussels while trying to remain attractive to the many multinationals based in the country. The Swiss have lured thousands of foreign companies including online retailer eBay and trading giant Glencore by taxing foreign profits at a lower rate than domestic earnings, a practice known as "ring fencing". ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are slightly higher in early trading on Wall Street, even as several big retailers slumped after reporting disappointing earnings.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's government received 621 billion naira in revenues in April, up from 595.7 billion the previous month owing to improved earnings from domestic crude and a petroleum profit tax, the accountant general said on Thursday Accountant General Jonah Otunla said Nigeria had distributed 721.5 billion naira to its three tiers of government -- federal, state and local -- including funds from a repayment by the state oil firm and savings from lower fuel subsidy costs.

By Jessica Wohl (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc posted weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday due to poor U.S. sales and said its profit for this quarter might also miss Wall Street's forecast. Everything from pressure on shoppers to a cool start to spring led to an unexpected 1.4 percent drop in sales at Walmart U.S. stores open at least a year. (Graphic on Wal-Mart earnings http://link.reuters.com/qan28t) Consumers with lower incomes have been especially squeezed by higher payroll taxes, consistently elevated gas prices and a shaky employment recovery. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Cisco Systems led the Dow Jones industrial average slightly higher Thursday after the technology company reported higher sales. Mixed corporate earnings and economic reports kept the major stock indexes flipping between slight gains and losses.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Tongaat Hulett said on Thursday it expected headlines earnings per share for the year to rise more than 14 percent, lifted in part by increased sugar production. The agri-processing company said in a trading statement sugar production rose by 9 percent to 1.25 million tons with major increases in Zimbabwe - the latest sign of an agricultural recovery in the country.

HARARE (Reuters) - SABMiller's Zimbabwe unit reported a 36 percent rise in full-year earnings on Wednesday, driven by strong sales of premium lager and non-alcoholic beverages. Delta Corporation, 38 percent owned by global brewing giant SABMiller, said earnings per share rose to 8.49 cents in the year ending March, up from 6.22 cents previously. After-tax profit rose to $104 million, compared to $72 million in 2012. Zimbabwe's economy, which had grown by nearly double digit figures from 2009 to 2011, was expected to grow 5 percent this year after a sharp slowdown in 2012. ...

By Taiga Uranaka TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's top three banks forecast weaker annual earnings as aggressive monetary easing squeezes them out of a profitable government bond trade and forces them to rely more on bread-and-butter lending where margins remain razor-thin. ...