JOHANNESBURG, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s new limited overs skipper Temba Bavuma must be given time to find his feet but coach Mark Boucher believes his appointment as the country’s first black captain represents &#8220;exciting times&#8221;.
Bavuma will debut in the role when South Africa start a three-match One-Day International home series against Pakistan on Friday, which will be followed by three Twenty20 matches in the build-up to the T20 World Cup in India later in the year.
The batsman takes over from wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who has given up the captaincy in all three formats.
&#8220;It was a big choice to make and we must give Temba some time to find his feet,&#8221; Boucher told reporters on Thursday.
&#8220;His preparation has been fantastic, the way he has spoken to the guys. We feel it is very exciting times for us with him as captain and we are just looking forward to getting onto the field and playing.&#8221;
South Africa have not competed in international cricket since a test and T20 tour of Pakistan ended in mid-February, and Boucher said he had been working on adding shots to his batsmen’s armoury to assist in spinning conditions.
&#8220;There is a lot we have been working on to upskill players. It is about giving guys different options to score 360 (degrees around the wicket),&#8221; he said.
&#8220;That will take time. You don’t just put a guy into the nets and teach him how to sweep and reverse sweep in one session. They need to get the confidence to do it in match situations.&#8221;
South Africa will lose key players de Kock, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada after the second ODI when the trio head to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
&#8220;We planned for it, India and South Africa have had a long-standing agreement to release players for the IPL,&#8221; Boucher added.
&#8220;The good part of it is they will go there to play in a good competition against strong opponents, and will get first-hand info on the venues in India.&#8221; (Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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Cricket-Bavuma appointment excites Boucher as Pakistan series looms

DIARY – Italy to May 31

LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Benchmark northwest European gasoline margins rose on Thursday, supported by a rise in exports to the United States where inventories dropped sharply last week. * Gasoline exports to North America reached 1.3 million tonnes in March, the highest since July 2019, according to Refinitiv data. * Exports to West Africa reached 1.24 million tonnes last month, according to the data. * U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 1.7 million barrels last week, compared with analysts&#8217; expectations for a 730,000-barrel gain, Energy Information Administration data showed. * A small fire broke out in Exxon Mobil&#8217;s refinery in Antwerp, Belgium, on Wednesday, the firm said on its Twitter account, and was quickly extinguished by the fire service. * Renewed lockdown restrictions in Europe and slower-than-expected vaccine rollouts are likely to check a global recovery in fuel demand. ​ Gasoline (in tonnes) Trades Bids Offers Prev. Sellers Buyers (vol.) Trades Ebob $620 Barges MOC Platts E5 (fob ARA) &lt;EUROBOB -ARA&gt; Ebob Barges E10 Platts(f ob ARA) Ebob $620.75-$ $618.5-$ Vitol, Mabanaf Barges 622.75 621.5 Shell t, Argus (5.7KT) Litasco E5(fob AR) Ebob $624-$62 Barges 4.5 E10 (5.5KT) Argus (fob AR) April $621 swap fob ARA Premium $619-$620 $631-$63 Litasco Total Unleaded 7 (24 (fob barges) ARA) &lt;PU-10PP -ARA&gt; Cargoes (fob MED) Cargoes $629 (cif (Thame NWE) s) Naphtha (cif NWE) &lt;NAF-C-N WE&gt; Ebob crack (per barrel) $11.28 prev. $10.22 Brent futures Rbob Rbob crack &lt;RBc1-CLc1&gt; (Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Aditya Soni) 
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Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline gains on strong exports

By Tom Arnold and Marc Jones
LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Ghana and Pakistan&#8217;s return to international debt markets this week, a year after COVID slammed them shut, has been an encouraging sign for the world&#8217;s poorest countries, but investors still need convincing.
As the pandemic enters its second year, funding needs are huge. Lower growth and higher deficits mean public debt in developing nations swelled to more than 60% of gross domestic product last year, rising by double-digit percentage points from 2019 in Latin America, the Caribbean and South Asia, Eurodad estimates.
They have a route to cope with the debt load. Last year, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank launched the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and its accompanying Common Framework to help the poorest nations survive the pandemic. They create obvious benefits. But they also carry additional hazards.
The Common Framework effectively requires a country to try to restructure its private debt. That would trigger a default in the eyes of credit-ratings agencies, a situation investors wouldn&#8217;t want to be dragged into.
The scheme has been something of a hot potato even after Ethiopia said in January it would be the first country with an international government bond, and not already in default, to use it. It was promptly downgraded by Fitch and S&amp;P.
Neither Ghana, Pakistan nor the Maldives, which also sold an Islamic finance bond this week, had signalled plans to follow suit. This week&#8217;s debt sales showed how sensitive the issue has become.
&#8220;The G20 Common Framework requires the debtor country to seek comparability of treatment with private creditors, and investors are concerned how that may be implemented,&#8221; said Jim Ho, a sovereign debt restructuring lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb.
Investors who bought into Ghana&#8217;s $3 billion bond sale on Wednesday said officials had assured the would-be buyers that the government, which has debt approaching 80% of GDP and spends roughly half of its revenue on interest payments, was not planning to pursue debt relief.
&#8220;They were saying they are not going for DSSI,&#8221; said Richard Briggs, at fund manager GAM, who bought a slice of the issue. &#8220;They were worried about the perception of what DSSI might mean.&#8221;
In what was seen as an alternative, one of the bonds Ghana sold was a four-year, zero-coupon issue. Zero coupons are not common among emerging-market issuers, but the lack of regular coupon payments effectively allows the government to defer some it payments.
That cost Ghana, classified as at high risk of debt distress by the IMF. Its yield-to-maturity equivalent was 7.3%, around 150 basis points above its existing comparable bonds.
Maldives and Pakistan took a different approach. They have applied for DSSI, as has Ivory Coast which become the first of the DSSI cohort to return to borrowing markets in November.
Analysts said that partly explained why Maldives&#8217; $200 million five-year sukuk was less than it planned to borrow and priced at 10.5%, reckoned by Tellimer to be one of the highest yields at issue since Mongolia in 2016.
&#8220;The operation may signal that investors remain sceptical about the Maldives&#8217; post-Covid recovery,&#8221; Tellimer&#8217;s Stuart Culverhouse wrote in a note.
Laos in south east Asia, meanwhile, has been forced to scrap a bond sale for the third time this month.

AFRICA ISSUERS
Despite the doubts, many saw this week&#8217;s sales as the latest sign of a gradual recovery of poorer nations. For around a year, they have had to rely on debt relief and funding from international financial institutions like the IMF.
&#8220;These have opened the issuance door to those EM countries burdened by almost a year of noise surrounding PSI (private sector involvement) and the G20 common framework,&#8221; said Simon Quijano-Evans, chief economist Gemcorp Capital.
Hastening the push is a desire to secure funding before U.S. bond yields possibly climb higher later in the year.
&#8220;There&#8217;s certainly more uncertainty looking forward, but it&#8217;s difficult for most borrowers to imagine that by waiting they&#8217;re going to gain economic advantage, i.e. lower financing costs,&#8221; said Stefan Weiler, JPMorgan&#8217;s head of Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa debt capital markets.
The first quarter saw around $225 billion of EM debt issuance, according to Refinitiv data, up from $181 billion in the same period of last year, the final weeks of which were blighted by the pandemic.
&#8220;We do anticipate a meaningful pickup in sovereign supply from Africa this year,&#8221; Weiler said. &#8220;There&#8217;s general expectation that several countries will look to come to the bond market this year.&#8221;
Low-income countries would need $200 billion over five years to fight the pandemic and $250 billion to return to the path of catching up to higher income levels, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Tuesday.
Some help may come from a possible $650 billion handout of the IMF&#8217;s Special Drawing Rights &#8211; its quasi-currency &#8211; which might be finalised at the spring meetings next week.
On the issue of countries not openly talking about whether they would opt for DSSI or the Common Framework at bond road shows, &#8220;you wouldn&#8217;t expect them to, said Jeff Grills, head of emerging markets debt at Aegon Asset Management. &#8220;We will probably learn more at the IMF meetings&#8221;
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ANALYSIS-Poorest countries will follow a tricky path back to debt markets

JOHANNESBURG, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Johnson &amp; Johnson said on Thursday that South Africa&#8217;s health regulator had registered its COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for deliveries to start in the second quarter.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) &#8220;has granted registration with conditions for its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older,&#8221; J&amp;J said in a statement.
The company aims to supply South Africa with 31 million doses of its vaccine, including 2.8 million doses in the second quarter.
SAHPRA&#8217;s spokesman was not immediately available for comment when called by Reuters. (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee Editing by Alexander Winning)
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J&J says South African health regulator registers its COVID-19 vaccine

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Malaysia has detected nine cases of a highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, a senior health official said on Thursday.
The variant, also known as B.1.351, was found among locally transmitted cases between January and March, Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement.
Two of the cases involved workers from a firm based at Kuala Lumpur International airport, he said.
&#8220;However, it is difficult to determine or verify how the B.1.351 variant was spread or transmitted to those workers,&#8221; Noor Hisham said.
Further analyses indicated that all nine cases likely originated from the same source, he added.
Experts fear that the B.1.351 variant could be resistant to existing vaccines and treatment, though vaccine-maker Pfizer-BioNTech said on Thursday that its dose was effective against the strain.
Malaysia in February launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme, aiming to inoculate 80% of its 32 million people within a year.
The Southeast Asian country has detected more than 340,000 cases including 1,278 deaths.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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Malaysia detects nine cases of South African COVID-19 variant

LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Differentials for Angolan crude continued to fall, with sellers increasingly offering cargoes in the Platts window to market their barrels to as wide an audience as possible.
* Angolan oil has been depressed for the past month as big buyer China has ramped up purchases of Iranian barrels and is chugging through cheaper oil in storage.
* Europe is not mopping up the excess, owing to strict lockdowns to contain a third wave of COVID-19 infections.
* China&#8217;s Unipec offered a cargo of Hungo in the window down to dated Brent minus $1.20, loading May 1-2.
* Unipec offered a cargo of Saturno down to dated Brent minus $1.70, loading May 4-5.
* State company Sonangol reduced its offer on a cargo of Saturno to dated Brent minus $1.50, loading May 18. The level is down 50 cents from the start of the week.
* Equinor and Exxon offered Angolan crude earlier in the week in the Platts window but had little success.
* South Africa&#8217;s Sasol issued a buy tender, seeking crude for May 24-25 delivery, closing April 6.
* India&#8217;s IOC had a tender for West African crude loading May 27 to June 5 but results did not emerge immediately. (Reporting by Julia Payne Editing by David Goodman) ))
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W. Africa Crude-Angolan diffs continue to slide

ADDIS ABABA, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; India&#8217;s temporary hold on major exports of AstraZeneca&#8217;s COVID-19 shot will undermine Africa&#8217;s vaccination plans, and could have a &#8220;catastrophic&#8221; impact if extended, the head of the continent&#8217;s disease control body said on Thursday.
India decided to delay big exports of the shots made in its territory by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to make sure it could meet local demand, two sources told Reuters last week.
The hold &#8220;will definitely impact our ability to continuously vaccinate people,&#8221; the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told a news conference in Addis Ababa.
The African Union had planned to vaccinate 20%-30% of the continent&#8217;s population by the end of the year he said. &#8220;If the vaccines are delayed we are unlikely to meet our target,&#8221; he added.
That AU target primarily relies on supplies from the global COVAX vaccine-sharing facility, through which 64 poorer countries including many in Africa are supposed to get doses from the SII. COVAX aims to provide enough shots for African countries to inoculate at least 20% of their populations.
&#8220;If the delay continues, I hope it’s a delay and not a ban, that would be catastrophic for meeting our vaccinations schedule,&#8221; Nkengasong said.
African countries have reported 4.25 million coronavirus infections and 112,000 related deaths, though experts have said the actual numbers could be higher.
The AU has also been negotiating with manufacturers to help member states secure the additional doses they they will need to achieve 60% coverage.
On Monday, Johnson &amp; Johnson announced it would supply the AU with up to 400 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. Delivery of those doses is due to begin in the third quarter of this year and will continue through 2022.
Those doses are separate from the GAVI/WHO-backed global COVAX facility.
Nkengasong said on Thursday the AU has &#8220;pivoted&#8221; towards the J&amp;J shot in part as a result of the delay in the delivery of AstraZeneca shots, and also because it is a single-dose shot.
The J&amp;J doses will begin to arrive in June or July, which will ease any shortage caused by the delay in the AstraZeneca doses, Nkengasong said. The gap until the arrival of the J&amp;J doses is a concern, he added.
(Reporting by Addis Ababa newsroom Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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India AstraZeneca shot delay could be ‘catastrophic’ for Africa – health official

NAIROBI, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya&#8217;s shilling is expected to gain ground against the dollar next week while the Zambian kwacha could weaken, traders said.

KENYA
The Kenyan shilling could benefit from muted importer dollar demand in the midst of increased inflows from offshore investors into a government infrastructure bond.
Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 109.10/30 per dollar, compared with last Thursday&#8217;s close of 109.65/109.85.
&#8220;Demand for dollars from importers is really subdued,&#8221; a trader at one commercial bank said.

ZAMBIA
The Kwacha is likely to weaken against the dollar due to demand for foreign exchange to pay for imports, including petroleum products and agricultural inputs.
On Thursday, commercial banks quoted the currency of Africa&#8217;s second largest copper producer at 22.0750 per dollar, slightly down from 22.0231 at the close of business a week ago.
&#8220;In the interim, the local unit is expected to trade range bound with a bias towards the weaker side,&#8221; Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) said in a note.

UGANDA
The Ugandan shilling is expected to be stable over the next one week amid a slump in demand due to the long Easter weekend.
At 0849 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,660/3,670, unchanged from last Thursday&#8217;s close.
&#8220;Demand will be on the low side owing to the fact that economic activity itself will be lacklustre because of the Easter holiday,&#8221; said an independent currency trader.

TANZANIA Tanzania&#8217;s shilling could weaken slightly next week due to the end-of-month dollar demand from importers and manufacturers.
On Thursday, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 2,310/2,326 per dollar, compared with 2,314/2,324 last week. (Reporting by George Obulutsa, Chris Mfula and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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WEEKAHEAD-AFRICA-FX-Kenyan shilling seen strengthening, Zambia unit under pressure

PFIZER, BIONTECH DATA SHOWS COVID-19 VACCINE APPEARS HIGHLY PROTECTIVE AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA VARIANT
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PFIZER, BIONTECH DATA SHOWS COVID-19 VACCINE APPEARS HIGHLY PROTECTIVE AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA VARIANT

AMSTERDAM, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Twenty years ago, Dutch couple Gert Kasteel and Dolf Pasker made history when they tied the knot in the world&#8217;s first legally-recognised same-sex wedding in the Netherlands.
They were among four gay couples &#8211; three male and one female &#8211; to be married shortly after midnight by the mayor of Amsterdam on April 1, 2001.
On Thursday, they celebrated their 20th anniversaries in small groups or at home due to COVID-19 social distancing rules that prevented large gatherings.
&#8220;It&#8217;s nicer to say to other people &#8216;he&#8217;s my husband, he&#8217;s my man&#8217;,&#8221; said Dolf, sitting next to Gert as they flipped through an album of photos and newspaper clippings of the wedding, which made headlines worldwide. &#8220;It has helped me to accept myself.&#8221;
All four gay marriages have passed the test of time. One of the men, Frank Wittebrood, died of a heart attack in 2011 at 55.
Those who participated looked back with pride at having made legal history.
&#8220;People told me that the Netherlands would be the first and the last country (to pass same-sex marriages), the rest of the world won&#8217;t follow you,&#8221; said Henk Krol, a lawmaker who supported the bill when it passed the Dutch parliament in 2000.
&#8220;Almost 30 countries in the world followed the Dutch example,&#8221; he said.
Most European Union countries, Britain, the United States, Australia, Mexico and South Africa are among 29 nations to have legalised same-sex marriage since 2001.
&#8220;I&#8217;m very proud that it&#8217;s possible,&#8221; said Gert, who before he could complete his sentence had Dolf jump in and finish it: &#8220;that we could play a little part of it. We made history.&#8221; (Reporting by Esther Verkaik; Writing by Anthony Deutsch Editing by Gareth Jones)
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Dutch couples mark 20th anniversary of world’s first same-sex marriages

JOHANNESBURG, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa sold 1.3 billion rand ($88.4 million) of three-month Treasury bills, at an average yield of 3.87% from 3.85% last week, central bank data showed on Friday. The bid-to-cover ratio rose to 1.1 from 1.0 last week. Auction date: 01/04/2021 Settlement date: 07/04/2021 Days 91 182 273 364 Amount received (R&#8217;bln) 1.482 6.861 4.866 9.538 Amount on offer (R&#8217;bln) 1.300 2.940 3.990 4.300 Amount allotted (R&#8217;bln) 1.300 2.940 3.990 4.300 Bid-to-cover ratio 1.1 2.3 1.2 2.2 Avg discount rate (%) 3.83 4.54 4.67 4.64 Average yield (%) 3.87 4.65 4.84 4.87 ($1 = 14.7077 rand) (Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana Editing by Promit Mukherjee) 
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TABLE-South Africa’s 3-month T-bill average yields down to 3.87%

By Siddharth Cavale and Silke Koltrowitz
April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Major chocolate makers, including Hershey and Mondelez, say they&#8217;ve turned to social media platforms like Pinterest to look for clues on which products might sell best during the pandemic U.S. Easter season.
About a month before Easter, people posted images of do-it-yourself Easter cookie kits and Easter baskets on Pinterest, according to Hershey Co&#8217;s research. The Pennsylvania-based chocolate company found that searches for those products on Pinterest increased in early March, with search volumes for related hashtags increasing more than 1,000% year-over-year.
Based on the trend, Hershey moved quickly to add recipes incorporating Hershey Cadbury crème eggs and Hershey chocolate syrup to the company’s own &#8220;Easter&#8221; and &#8220;Cakes and Cupcakes&#8221; boards on Pinterest.
“We are looking at different social sites like Pinterest and we leverage those insights with retailers. &#8230; It definitely is more than usual (this year),” Philip Stanley, Hershey&#8217;s chief sales officer, said in a recent telephone interview.
Shoppers plan to spend an average of $179.70 this Easter, the highest figure on record, according to a March 2021 survey of 8,111 respondents conducted by consumer research firm Prosper Insights &amp; Analytics for the National Retail Federation, the U.S. retail trade association.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for retailers and food companies to predict where and how people will shop. More than two-thirds of Americans will celebrate this weekend&#8217;s Easter holiday and spend a collective $21.6 billion, the federation added, with 13% of respondents saying they will shop in a store. This compares with 9% of respondents saying the same in a pre-pandemic survey last year.
&#8220;Consumer behavior change was so rapid during COVID, our normal cycle of understanding our annual rituals with our products and consumer insights was not the same,&#8221; Hershey spokeswoman Allison Kleinfelter said by phone.
PINTEREST PROMINENCE
Pinterest operates like an online mood board, where users pin images they like to several different interest-specific boards on their page. These images can then be shared and pinned between users, creating what Pinterest Inc calls &#8220;a catalogue of ideas.&#8221;
&#8220;Because Pinterest is grounded in the future, it gets an earlier indication of where consumers are headed and can help brands better predict what&#8217;s to come for their category,&#8221; Sibylle Tretera, head of creative strategy for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Pinterest, wrote in a December blog post.
Jonathan Halvorson, global vice president of consumer experience at Mondelez International Inc, said by phone that the Chicago-based company had tripled its marketing budget on Pinterest over the last two years, without giving a specific number. Halvorson said the platform &#8220;had made the biggest progression on insights&#8221; on which it could act upon, including for Easter.
To be sure, the maker of Oreo cookies still spends the majority of its social media marketing budget on Alphabet Inc&#8217;s Google and Facebook, but nevertheless has increased its brand campaigns on Pinterest.
Cadbury&#8217;s UK unit was among the first brands to use Pinterest&#8217;s Trend Badges feature when it launched in 2020 &#8211; which gave advertisers the exclusive opportunity to spotlight their own products based on trending search terms.
&#8220;We’re able to get insight into things like when during the day – morning, evening, meal time, etc. – consumers are searching for snacks, what kind, and where they&#8217;re looking to buy them,&#8221; said Halvorson of social media sites, including Pinterest.
Even as far back as mid-February, shortly after Valentine’s Day, Pinterest users, who call themselves &#8220;Pinners,&#8221; showed an interest in baking at home, leading Hershey to focus on 10-ounce (284-gram) Hershey’s kisses and seasonal Reese’s miniatures pieces.
When people posted images suggesting they were planning to take part in more at-home activities, community-led Easter egg hunts and barbecues in the two weeks before Easter Sunday, Hershey focused on selling limited-time products such as Reese’s mallow-top peanut butter cups, as it found marshmallows to be popular around this season.
&#8220;It all just shifted so quickly,&#8221; Hershey spokeswoman Kleinfelter said, &#8220;so social media was really critical in understanding the quick sweeps (in consumer behavior) that we were seeing and when these quick sweeps (are) happening. (Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru and Silke Koltrowitz in Zurich; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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Chocolate-makers burnish social-media data to get a hop on Easter sales

April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange-traded-fund (ETF), New York&#8217;s SPDR Gold Trust, remained unchanged on Wednesday from Tuesday, while holdings of the largest silver-backed ETF, New York&#8217;s iShares Silver Trust, fell 0.67% during the same period. Exchange-traded funds, the most widely recognized type of ETP, back each security issued with physical stocks of a given commodity, creating a product they say is free from counterparty risk. Name New Holdings (OZ) Date Prev Holdings (OZ) Prev Abs Change % chg YTD Abs Change (OZ) (OZ) GOLD SPDR Gold Trust 33,356,508.7 Mar 31 33,356,508.7 Mar 30 0.0 0.00% -4,283,797.3 COMEX Gold Trust 16,202,344.8 Mar 31 16,277,134.4 Mar 30 -74,789.6 -0.46% -679,306.8 ETF Securities gold (ex-US) 9,293,742.4 Nov 30 9,293,742.4 Nov 30 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; ZKB Physical Gold ** 5,442,921.6 Mar 26 5,466,221.5 Mar 19 -23,299.8 -0.43% -154,867.9 Sprott Physical Gold Trust 2,606,214.0 Mar 31 2,606,214.0 Mar 30 0.0 0.00% 30,994.0 ETFS Physical Swiss Gold 844,902.3 Jan 24 844,902.3 Jan 24 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; ABSA &#8211; NewGold ETF 634,304.7 Mar 31 634,309.9 Mar 30 -5.2 0.00% 10,629.3 Total 68,380,938.5 68,479,033.1 -98,094.6 -0.14% -5,319,058.4 SILVER iShares Silver Trust 575,124,211.9 Mar 31 579,022,878.7 Mar 30 -3,898,666.8 -0.67% 16,408,329.5 Sprott Physical Silver 131,439,026.0 Mar 31 131,038,777.0 Mar 30 400,249.0 0.31% 40,330,371.0 ETF Securities silver ex-US 100,389,761.6 Nov 30 100,389,761.6 Nov 30 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; ZKB Physical Silver 95,035,446.4 Mar 26 94,956,516.3 Mar 19 78,930.1 0.08% 1,591,365.5 ETFS Physical Silver Shares 22,908,298.3 Mar 20 22,908,298.3 Mar 20 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; Total 924,896,744.2 928,316,231.9 -3,419,487.7 -0.37% 85,157,302.2 PLATINUM ETFS Physical Platinum Shares 738,343.9 Mar 20 738,343.9 Mar 20 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; ABSA &#8211; NewPlat ETF 571,657.1 Mar 31 572,631.4 Mar 30 -974.3 -0.17% -447,651.5 ETF Securities platinum ex-US 617,330.8 Nov 30 617,330.8 Nov 30 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; ZKB Physical Platinum 442,230.8 Mar 26 442,230.8 Mar 19 0.0 0.00% 18,976.3 Total 2,369,562.6 2,370,536.9 -974.3 -0.04% -406,647.8 PALLADIUM InvestPalladium ETF # 142,113.5 Mar 25 142,113.5 Mar 25 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; ETFS Physical Palladium Shares 129,466.6 Mar 20 129,466.6 Mar 20 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; ETF Securities palladium ex-US 111,915.0 Nov 30 111,915.0 Nov 30 &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; ZKB Physical Palladium 78,361.8 Mar 26 78,361.8 Mar 19 0.0 0.00% 352.6 ABSA &#8211; NewPalladium ETF **** 29,414.6 Mar 31 29,414.9 Mar 30 -0.3 0.00% -12,452.9 Total 491,271.5 491,271.8 -0.3 0.00% -49,404.2 The figures above are those reported to Reuters by the organizations involved by telephone or email on the date shown, or those that are publicly available on their websites. ** ZKB physical gold, silver, platinum and palladium funds are fully backed by physical precious metal and investors are entitled to physical delivery of them. *** Shareholders in the GAM Gold fund can elect to hold &#8220;A class&#8221; shares, which are fully backed by physical gold. Investors in that class are entitled to physical delivery of the precious metal. Investors may also elect to hold &#8220;AX&#8221; class shares, which are fully backed by physical gold. Investors in that class are not entitled to physical delivery of the precious metal. **** Absa Capital&#8217;s NewPalladium Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) was listed on March 27, 2014 and is fully backed with South African palladium. # Standard Bank&#8217;s AfricaPalladium ETF, South Africa&#8217;s first listed palladium exchange traded fund, debuted on March 24, 2014. 
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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TABLE-Holdings of SPDR Gold unchanged, iShares Silver fall

* Carlyle-backed Boru Energy seeks stakes in two fields
* Deal valued at around $500 million
* It would mark return to Ghana for former Tullow CEO
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Boru Energy, backed by private equity giant Carlyle Group, is in discussions with Occidental Petroleum to acquire its oil and gas fields in Ghana for around $500 million, industry and banking sources said.
The acquisition of Occidental&#8217;s stakes in the offshore Jubilee and Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) fields would be the first investment for Boru Energy, led by former Tullow Oil CEO Aidan Heavey, which Carlyle&#8217;s international energy fund CIEP launched in 2019.
It would also mark a symbolic moment for Heavey, who founded Tullow Oil in 1985 and who oversaw the development of the Jubilee field which started production in 2010 before stepping down in 2013 after missing production targets.
Carlyle and Boru Energy declined to comment. Occidental, which had previously said it was seeking to sell its Ghanaian assets, declined to comment.
Occidental holds a 24% stake in Jubilee and a 17% interest in TEN fields, which are both operated by London-listed Tullow Oil.
The Jubilee field has suffered a number of major technical setbacks and delays in recent years but its production stabilized at around 83,600 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2020. TEN&#8217;s production, which started in 2016, reached 48,700 bpd in 2020, according to Tullow Oil&#8217;s annual report.
Tullow said in its 2020 annual report that the Ghana fields holds a resource of around 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Occidental acquired the Ghanaian assets through its $55 billion take-over of rival Anadarko in 2019. It has tried to sell its Ghanaian assets since then.
It had initially agreed to sell all of Anadarko&#8217;s assets in Africa to Total but the French energy giant later opted not to acquire the Ghana assets.
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Hiller in Houston; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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Carlyle in talks to acquire Occidental’s Ghana oilfields -sources

JOHANNESBURG, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s seasonally-adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers&#8217; Index (PMI) expanded for third month in a row in March as new sales and exports rose with the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions, a survey showed on Thursday.
The index, a gauge of manufacturing activity in Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy, rose to 57.4 points in March from 53.0 points in February.
The survey showed a broad-based improvement, with all of five subcomponents in survey improving, with only the employment sub-index remaining below the 50-point mark that separates expansion from contraction.
The jump in new sales order was mainly driven by strong exports, the survey said, reflecting &#8220;the recent better-than-expected manufacturing PMI readings in Europe&#8221;, according to Absa.
South Africa&#8217;s trade surplus widened to 28.96 billion rand ($1.96 billion) in February, more than double the surplus in the previous month, extending a trend that began in May last year.
Business activity recorded another sharp increase, up 8.6 points, but Absa questioned whether this would be sustained.
&#8220;Purchasing managers turned slightly less optimistic about expected business conditions in six months&#8217; time,&#8221; Absa said in the release.
The country has seen a sustained drop in the rate of new COVID-19 infections in 2021, leading to a loosening of lockdown restrictions that has supported economic activity, particularly in consumer sectors.
Restrictions have however been temporarily tightened for the upcoming Easter weekend. The slow pace of the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, with the country only expected to achieve herd immunity in 2022, has dampened business sentiment. (Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana)
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South Africa’s Absa PMI expands again in March

By Tom Arnold
LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) &#8211; A rotation by sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors to add risk since the COVID-19 pandemic, moving from cash and bonds to stocks, may have further to run as many still have large cash positions, according to research published Thursday.
Investors had a more positive outlook for 2021, having reached a risk-neutral level across asset classes after starting last year with the highest cash levels since the 2009 financial crisis, the research from State Street Corporation and the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) found.
Many are also adding to their exposure within private markets, with a particular focus on infrastructure and real estate, hastened by low real returns in public markets, according to the findings, based on State Street data and an IFSWF survey of seven of its largest sovereign fund members.
For example, sovereign fund investments in private markets more than doubled during 2020 to $50.3 billion, IFSWF data showed, in part due to funds helping out their portfolio companies hit by the pandemic.
&#8220;The current macroeconomic environment, anticipated fiscal stimulus and portfolio positioning of institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds present reasons to be optimistic as we move further into 2021,&#8221; said Neill Clark, head of State Street Associates, Europe, Middle East and Africa at State Street.
There was a marked uptick in interest in U.S. equities in 2020, with IFSWF data showing over $16 billion invested across 46 deals in 2020, up from $2 billion across 28 deals in 2019.
The rise was largely due to Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Public Investment Fund&#8217;s countercyclical investments in energy, consumer and financial sectors at the peak of the crisis in the second quarter.
Institutional investors also scaled back investments in emerging markets and withdrew from investments in Britain during 2020, according to the research.
Still, IFSWF data indicated an uptick in sovereign fund investments in the country to $4.4 billion in 2020 compared with $1 billion in 2019, almost two-thirds in private markets, as funds eyed deals in the battered economy.
With assets such as global stocks and bitcoin near record highs, talk of bubbles in certain sectors has increased this year.
Yet State Street said it did not see evidence of bubble behaviour and sovereign funds surveyed in the report were generally not worried either.
One IFSWF member surveyed did express concern about the number of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) initial public offerings, the number of tech firms trading at more than 20 times revenues and multiples that private equity firms are paying for deals. (Reporting by Tom Arnold in London Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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