* China&#8217;s auto sales surged 30% in Jan * Dollar index at two-week low * U.S. Fed Chair speech at 1900 GMT, CPI data at 1330 GMT (Adds comments, updates prices) By Nakul Iyer Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; Platinum prices rallied to their highest in six years on Wednesday as economic recovery hopes boosted demand for the auto-catalyst metal, while U.S. stimulus expectations and a softer dollar supported gold. Platinum rose 4.2% to $1,224.46 as of 1257 GMT, having earlier hit its highest since February 2015 at $1,234.35. &#8220;Platinum&#8217;s fundamentals are attractive with the metal being in a deficit for some years,&#8221; said Ross Norman, an independent analyst, forecasting the industrial metal to average $1,316 an ounce this year. Norman added that there are risks to the upside from potential supply issues in South Africa, which faces chronic shortage of electricity that mines need to produce the metal. Analysts noted last month&#8217;s 30% year-on-year surge in auto sales in China, the world&#8217;s biggest market, stoked demand for platinum in automobile catalytic converters that are designed to limit exhaust fumes. Spot gold meanwhile was up 0.1% to $1,837.96 per ounce by 1257 GMT, while U.S. gold futures gained 0.2% to $1,838.40. The dollar dropped to a two-week low against rivals on Wednesday. &#8220;Inflation fears are emerging, especially in the U.S with the stimulus intended to pass&#8230;(Fears are) that this would be too much and spark inflation going forward,&#8221; said Quantitative Commodity Research analyst Peter Fertig. The U.S. Congress is expected to pass a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, with President Joe Biden saying he had been in touch with Republican leaders who opposed the size of the package. Stimulus prospects were further aided by a budget outline approved by the Democrats last week allowing them to pass the package without Republican support. Market participants awaited U.S. January Consumer Price Index data due at 1330 GMT as well as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell&#8217;s speech before a virtual Economic Club of New York event at 1900 GMT. Spot silver fell 0.1% to $27.17, while palladium climbed 1.5% to $2,353.99. (Reporting by Nakul Iyer and Sumita Layek in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter/Mark Heinrich) 
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PRECIOUS-Platinum hits 6-year peak; gold gains as dollar stumbles

GENEVA, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; The World Health Organization will issue its interim recommendations on the use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University on Wednesday at 1500gmt, a statement said.
The press conference by its panel of experts known as SAGE (Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation) was moved up from the original schedule of Thursday mid-day.
South Africa has paused the rollout of the vaccine following data in a small clinical trial that showed it did not protect against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 variant of the coronavirus now dominant in the country.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay)
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WHO to issue recommendations on AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Wed.

Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211;
For other diaries, please see:

Political and General News
Top Economic Events
Emerging Markets Economic Events
Government Debt Auctions
U.S. Federal Reserve
Today in Washington
&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;- This diary is filed daily. ** Indicates new events &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 10
** BRUSSELS &#8211; Prime Minister of Romania Florin Citu will pay a working visit to Brussels, during which he will have a series of meetings with senior EU officials, including the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen. (to Feb. 11)
** CAPE TOWN &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s health minister to brief media on the country&#8217;s COVID-19 vaccine rollout after temporarily putting on hold plans to distribute AstraZeneca&#8217;s vaccine to healthcare workers and opting to use Johnson &amp; Johnson shots first &#8211; 0530 GMT. ** BRUSSELS &#8211; Bahrain&#8217;s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani meets with EU Council President Charles Michel &#8211; 1000 GMT. ** BELGRADE &#8211; Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis meets his Serbian counterpart Ana Brnabic in Belgrade and visits coronavirus vaccination points in Serbian capital &#8211; 1230 GMT. ** BRUSSELS &#8211; Niger&#8217;s President Mahamadou Issoufou meets EU Council President Charles Michel &#8211; 1130 GMT. ** BRUSSELS &#8211; Press conference opening remarks by Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Europe fit for the Digital Age, and Commissioner for Competition at the European Commission in Brussels &#8211; 1300 GMT. ** BRUSSELS &#8211; European Council president Charles Michel speaks at Atlantic Council event on the future of EU-US relations and transatlantic cooperation &#8211; 1530 GMT. HEL, Poland &#8211; The presidents of Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia start a two-day meeting at a presidential residence on Poland&#8217;s Hel peninsula. (final day) VENICE, Italy &#8211; Venice Carnival 2021 (to Feb. 16). KUWAIT CITY/ MUSCAT/ DOHA &#8211; Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu travels to Kuwait, Oman and Qatar to meet officials on a trip which comes after Gulf leaders moved to end a regional dispute with Qatar. (to Feb. 11)
BRUSSELS – EU Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine give a press conference in Brussels – 1345 GMT. BRUSSELS &#8211; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen debates the state of play of the EU&#8217;s vaccination strategy with EU lawmakers who are expected to reiterate their support for a united EU approach to COVID-19 vaccines – 0800 GMT. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
THURSDAY, FEB. 11
** BRUSSELS &#8211; High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine give a press conference in Brussels following the EU-Ukraine Association Council &#8211; 1630 GMT. ** PARIS &#8211; French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire to attend a parliamentary hearing on EDF restructuring plans &#8211; 0900 GMT. ** MONROVIA &#8211; Liberian finance minister Samuel Tweah outlines plan to help COVID-hit economy &#8211; 0900 GMT. ** MADRID &#8211; Spain&#8217;s economy minister Nadia Calvino opens Vocento Euroforum conference at Vocento&#8217;s headquarters in Madrid &#8211; 1100 GMT. ** LONDON &#8211; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove to meet European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic for talks in London.
BRUSSELS – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet with the Minister of Defence of Belgium Ludivine Dedonder at NATO Headquarters. BRUSSELS &#8211; NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet with the Foreign Minister of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani at NATO Headquarters. BANGKOK &#8211; Thailand Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith speaks at a seminar on the capital market and the country&#8217;s economic development 2021 – 0200 GMT. BERLIN &#8211; German Chancellor Angela Merkel to deliver a speech in parliament on her government&#8217;s strategy to contain the coronavirus pandemic – 0800 GMT. VIENNA &#8211; VIENNA Opera Ball 2021 CAPE TOWN &#8211; South African President Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s state of the nation address in parliament. &#8211; 1700 GMT
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
FRIDAY, FEB. 12
LONDON – United Kingdom to lead G7 discussion on COVID-19 economic recovery. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
SATURDAY, FEB. 13
N&#8217;DJAMENA &#8211; French president Emmanuel Macron pays a 4-day visit to Chad. (To Feb. 16) BEIRUT &#8211; 13th anniversary of the death of Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyah.
GLOBAL &#8211; World Radio Day. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
SUNDAY, FEB. 14
CATALONIA, Spain &#8211; Catalonia 2021 regional election to be held. PRISTINA &#8211; Kosovo holds early parliamentary election. GLOBAL &#8211; Valentine&#8217;s Day.
BEIRUT &#8211; 16th anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
MONDAY, FEB. 15
BRUSSELS &#8211; Euro zone finance ministers meet – 1400 GMT. TRIPOLI, Libya &#8211; Tripoli municipal election. ASIA &#8211; Parinirvana day, Buddhist festival marking the anniversary of Buddha&#8217;s death BRUSSELS &#8211; Video conference of the Eurogroup. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
TUESDAY, FEB. 16
SINGAPORE &#8211; Singapore&#8217;s finance minister, Heng Swee Keat, will announce his budget for 2021 &#8211; 0700 GMT
BRUSSELS – EU Video conference of economic and finance ministers. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17
** BRUSSELS &#8211; European Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas gives a press conference on the EU&#8217;s bio-defence preparedness program. ** KRAKOW &#8211; President of the European Council, Charles Michel attends meeting of Visegrad Four leaders in Krakow, Poland. ** BRUSSELS &#8211; European Commission vice-president Margrethe Vestager presents the EU&#8217;s action plan on synergies between civil, defence and space industries. BRUSSELS &#8211; NATO Defence Ministers hold video conference (To Feb 18)
PRISTINA &#8211; 13th anniversary of Kosovo&#8217;s declaration of independence from Serbia. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
SUNDAY, FEB. 21
NIGER &#8211; Niger holds second round of presidential election
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
MONDAY, FEB. 22
BRUSSELS – EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting. WELLINGTON &#8211; Deputy finance ministers of Asia-Pacific countries meet in preparation for APEC Summit in New Zealand. (to March 07) &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
TUESDAY, FEB. 23 COLOMBO &#8211; Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka
BRUSSELS – EU General Affairs Council meeting. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
THURSDAY, FEB. 25
BRUSSELS &#8211; Euro zone finance ministers meet to discuss macroeconomic developments and policy prospects in the euro zone &#8211; 1400 GMT. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
FRIDAY, FEB. 26
BRUSSELS &#8211; EU leaders hold video conference on on security and defence and on the EU&#8217;s Southern Neighborhood. &#8211; 0800 GMT.
ROME &#8211; G20 Meetings of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, videoconference (to Feb. 27). &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
SUNDAY, FEB. 28
EL SALVADOR &#8211; Salvadorian Legislative Assembly election.
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
MONDAY, MAR. 1
BUENOS AIRES &#8211; Argentina&#8217;s President Alberto Fernández addresses the Parliament at the opening of the annual sessions.
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
TUESDAY, MAR. 02
LISBON &#8211; Informal meeting of defence ministers (to Mar. 3)
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF &#8211; Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia election.
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
WEDNESDAY, MAR. 03
** BANGKOK &#8211; Thailand Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith speaks at a business seminar &#8211; 0530 GMT.
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
THURSDAY, MAR. 4
LISBON &#8211; Informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers – Gymnich (to Mar. 5). VIENNA &#8211; The 14th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting via videoconference. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
SUNDAY, MAR. 7
BOLIVIA &#8211; Local elections in Bolivia &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
TUESDAY, MAR. 09
BRUSSELS &#8211; European Commission vice-president Margrethe Vestager gives a press conference on &#8220;Europe’s Digital Decade: 2030 Digital Targets.&#8221; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
THURSDAY, MAR. 11
BRUSSELS &#8211; EU Justice and Home Affairs Council (to Mar. 12) &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
SUNDAY, MAR. 14
STUTTGART, Germany &#8211; Baden Wuerttemberg state elections. MAINZ, Germany &#8211; The German state of Rhineland Palatinate (Rheinland Pfalz) holds state elections.
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
MONDAY, MAR. 15 BRUSSELS &#8211; Euro zone finance ministers meet &#8211; 1400 GMT.
BRUSSELS – Eurogroup meeting.
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; TUESDAY, MAR. 16
BRUSSELS – EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
WEDNESDAY, MAR. 17
BRUSSELS &#8211; European Commission Pice-president Maros Sefcovic speaks to press regarding better regulation in the EU – 1100 GMT. BRUSSELS &#8211; European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager gives a press conference on &#8220;Updating the new industrial strategy for Europe&#8221;. NETHERLANDS &#8211; Dutch Second Chamber election. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
THURSDAY, MAR. 18
BRUSSELS – EU Environment Council
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
MONDAY, MAR. 22
BRUSSELS – EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
TUESDAY, MAR. 23
BRUSSELS – EU General Affairs Council meeting. ISRAEL &#8211; Israeli Knesset election. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
THURSDAY, MAR. 25
BRUSSELS &#8211; European Council meeting (to Mar. 26). &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
FRIDAY, MAR. 26
DHAKA – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Bangladesh. &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;
WEDNESDAY, MAR. 31
BRUSSELS &#8211; European Commission Pice-president Frans Timmermans gives a news conference on the EU&#8217;s action plan for the development of organic production: on the way to 2030. CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE) – President election.
&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; NOTE: The inclusion of diary items does not necessarily mean that Reuters will file a story based on the event.
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DIARY-Political and General News Events from Feb 10

By Robin Emmott
BRUSSELS, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; The European Commission has proposed speeding up deportations of migrants who do not meet requirements for asylum, according to an internal document sent to EU states on Wednesday and seen by Reuters.
According to the proposal, which said deportations would be voluntary and aim to help reintegrate migrants in their home countries, the Commission could also potentially fine EU governments that do not meet proposed new deportation rules.
&#8220;The Commission will pursue a better-functioning common EU system of returns,&#8221; said the document, dated Feb. 10, using EU terminology for deportations.
Tuesday&#8217;s 12-page proposal is part of a broader Commission plan launched last September to overhaul broken migration rules to resolve years of bitterness among EU states and provide a better welcome for refugees fleeing the Middle East and Africa. (Reporting by Robin Emmott)
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EU executive proposes speeding up deportations, internal document says

(Repeats item published earlier with no change to text. The author is editor-at-large for finance and markets at Reuters News. Any views expressed here are his own)
By Mike Dolan
LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; The greening of the planet should mean fewer dollars need to be held in reserve around the world and may fuel persistent doubts about the greenback&#8217;s future as the dominant world currency.
In the realm of investment megatrends, an accelerating drive to renewable and sustainable energy and a long-forecast but slow decline in dollar hegemony are among the biggest.
But it&#8217;s possible serious movement on the former could pressure the latter too as &#8216;petrodollars&#8217; banked from the windfalls of oil exporting nations wane in favour of more localised and sustainable energy sources.
The push toward clean energy &#8211; catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate concerns and green priorities of new U.S. President Joe Biden &#8211; reinforces the International Energy Agency&#8217;s forecast of peak oil demand within the next decade.
Under a scenario of a surge in clean energy policies along with adherance to the Paris Agreement on arresting climate change, the IEA sees world oil demand falling by more than quarter in less than 20 years.
If dollar-denominated oil usage declines in favour of home-produced wind, solar or hydro energy sources, then the swelling pool of global petrodollars recycled and invested by the world&#8217;s big oil producers since the end of the gold standard in the 1970s may drain with it.
Chris Iggo, Axa Investment Managers&#8217; Chief Investment Officer for Core Investments, reckons the renewables push can neutralise the largely pernicious political and inflation volatility associated with the global oil trade and its reliance on a small group of producing countries &#8211; shifting toward a system of cheaper and more locally produced sources of energy.
&#8220;Politics can interfere in the supply of the technology and capital needed to exploit renewable energy, but nobody can control the sun and the wind,&#8221; he told clients.
Iggo reckons the central role of the dollar changes in that too.
&#8220;The more dispersed &#8211; and more local &#8211; nature of renewable energy production will mean less reliance on a single currency,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;The &#8216;petrodollar&#8217; is a thing of the past and the need for certain currencies to be pegged against the dollar will disappear.&#8221;
PETRO HAZE
The exchange rate impact is hazier than it seems but there may be other serious implications.
The petrodollar system that started in the 1970s largely hinged on recycling oil revenues directly or indirectly from mostly poor and developing Middle Eastern countries back into U.S. dollar deposits and debt securities &#8211; often via large financial centres such as London.
That in part gave rise to the offshore Eurodollar markets and pools of global dollar liquidity that fueled the Eurobond market in the 1980s &#8211; and everything from banking to private equity to tech startups since.
But it mainly enhanced America&#8217;s ability to run large international deficits cheaply for decades &#8211; an oft-criticised &#8216;exorbitant privilege&#8217; of printing the world&#8217;s reserve currency and &#8216;numeraire&#8217; for world energy and commerce.
And the big oil producers continue to underwrite hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. government debt &#8211; even if the United States itself is no longer a net importer.
The most recent U.S. data from November last year shows Saudi Arabia, Norway and the United Arab Emirates alone hold more than a quarter trillion dollars of $7 trillion Treasury securities held overseas, even if last year&#8217;s oil price plunge cut that by more than $50 billion over the preceding 12 months.
Add all oil producers and indirect custody holdings and the number may well be twice that.
That said, these numbers pale against more than $2 trillion in Treasuries held by oil importers Japan and China &#8211; or indeed the $4 trillion amassed by the Federal Reserve itself in pandemic-easing bond buying. And so the influence of petrodollars on U.S. borrowing costs has been watered down considerably &#8211; at least while the Fed is in support and owning a quarter of the market.
Another way of looking at the scale of petrodollars sloshing around the world is the size of sovereign wealth fund holdings. Sovereign funds from the Middle East and Norway more than doubled over decade to 2019 to more than $4 trillion.
But these have been diversified far and wide and this is where exchange rate and global market effects of reduced windfalls get more complicated.
There may be less natural demand for dollars in a less-oil dominated world &#8211; with significant reserve holding consequences. But the brimming of petro coffers around the world has filled all currencies for two decades.
Huge swings in oil prices over the past 12 years have been inversely correlated with the dollar&#8217;s exchange rate value against European currencies in particular. That proved true again though the pandemic shock and recovery over the past year.
According to a New York Fed paper from 2019, this correlation only emerged after 2000 when the Middle East and North Africa region turned from the net current account deficits of the 1980s and 1990s to a surplus as oil prices climbed.
As surpluses ballooned with rising oil prices thereafter, so did the marginal volume of wealth diversified to Europe and European currencies &#8211; and vice versa during oil price swoons.
Whether waning need for petrodollars worldwide over the next couple of decades undermines oil exporter surpluses and the oil/dollar correlation remains to be seen.
(by Mike Dolan, Twitter: @reutersMikeD)
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RPT-COLUMN-Does a greener world need less greenbacks? :Mike Dolan

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa will discuss with the international COVAX vaccine scheme whether it can swap 500,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses it has ordered from the Serum Institute of India but which are yet to arrive, its health minister said on Wednesday.
&#8220;The 500,000 that was ordered, we have actually contacted the Serum Institute, and we will actually be discussing with COVAX whilst it has not been delivered whether it is possible to swap it on COVAX and therefore get a different vaccine,&#8221; Zweli Mkhize said.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Wendell Roelf Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo)
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S.Africa says it will ask COVAX whether can swap 500,000 AstraZeneca doses

SOUTH AFRICA&#8217;S MKHIZE SAYS PROBABLY STARTING WITH FEWER VACCINE DOSES THAN HAD INITIALLY PLANNED, WILL READJUST PLAN
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SOUTH AFRICA’S MKHIZE SAYS  PROBABLY STARTING WITH FEWER VACCINE DOSES THAN HAD INITIALLY PLANNED, WILL READJUST PLAN

* Most EMEA currencies muted, rand outperforms
* EM earnings growth seen at best pace in nearly two decades
* Forint outpaces CEE peers
By Ambar Warrick
Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; Emerging market stocks hit a record high on Wednesday as hopes of a bumper U.S. stimulus package and easy monetary policy supported equities, while South Africa&#8217;s rand hit a more than one-month high.
The MSCI&#8217;s index of EM stocks jumped 0.8% to a record high, with Asian stocks supporting the index on the back of strong earnings.
Bourses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa also rose, with Turkish stocks adding 0.7%, while South African stocks rose 0.8%.
South Africa&#8217;s rand jumped 0.5% to its strongest level since early-January, as the country looked to resume its vaccination program.
Prospects for South Africa&#8217;s coal, metal, and wine exports have also improved, as a row between China and Australia looks to potentially shift Chinese buyers to the country.
Expectations of a $1.9 trillion U.S. stimulus rose as an economic recovery appeared to be slowing down in the country, while most global central banks have indicated they will maintain loose policy to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic&#8217;s impact.
While the increased liquidity is beneficial to equities, it tends to have a detrimental effect on foreign exchange rates. But emerging market currencies in EMEA and Asia have had some support from their relatively higher lending rates.
Growth in EM company earnings is also expected to be at its best in two decades, given that several major economies are recovering steadily from the pandemic.

&#8220;We are overweight EM equities. We see them as principal beneficiaries of a vaccine-led global economic upswing in 2021,&#8221; said Jean Boivin, head of the BlackRock Investment Institute in a recent note to clients.
&#8220;Other positives: our expectation of a flat to weaker U.S. dollar and more stable trade policy under a Biden administration.&#8221;
Investors were awaiting U.S. inflation data later in the day, which is expected to factor into the Federal Reserve&#8217;s outlook for eventually tightening monetary policy.
Most other EMEA currencies marked small moves for the day.
Turkey&#8217;s lira was flat after data showed the country&#8217;s unemployment rate ticked up to 12.9% in the November period.
In central Europe, Hungary&#8217;s forint slightly outpaced its peers against the euro, as the country kicked off a vaccination program with Russia&#8217;s Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine. The country will also use start using AstraZeneca&#8217;s vaccine this week.
Elsewhere, shares of British emerging market asset manager Ashmore Group rose as much as 4% after its first-half pretax profit surged 14%.
For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2021, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2021, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets
For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see
For TURKISH market report, see
For RUSSIAN market report, see
(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
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EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks hit record high on stimulus, earnings optimism

SOUTH AFRICA HEALTH MINISTER MKHIZE SAYS MOST OF J&amp;J VACCINE DOSES COMING TO S.AFRICA AND THE REST OF AFRICA WILL PROBABLY COME FROM LOCAL PHARMA COMPANY ASPEN
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SOUTH AFRICA HEALTH MINISTER MKHIZE SAYS  MOST OF J&J VACCINE DOSES COMING TO S.AFRICA AND THE REST OF AFRICA WILL PROBABLY COME FROM LOCAL PHARMA COMPANY ASPEN

By Promit Mukherjee
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; Pfizer Inc said it could deliver its COVID-19 vaccine, which requires ultra-cold temperatures for storage and distribution, directly to points of vaccination in South Africa.
The company said it had allocated vaccine doses to South Africa and was currently in discussions with the government.
&#8220;We are enabling direct shipment to the point of vaccination in a thermal shipper that will maintain the ultra-low temperature required for up to 10 days unopened,&#8221; Pfizer said.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; editing by John Stonestreet)
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Pfizer says it could directly deliver COVID-19 vaccine to points of vaccination in South Africa

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; JPMorgan has hired former senior British politician Chuka Umunna to head up its environmental, social and governance (ESG) work in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The appointment was announced within the bank in a memo seen by Reuters and reported earlier by the Financial Times. A JPMorgan spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo.
The hiring makes Umunna one of Britain&#8217;s most senior Black bankers. He joins JPMorgan from PR company Edelman, where he co-led its ESG consultancy.
Umunna was a senior figure in the main opposition Labour party before leaving to help found the short-lived Change UK party. He later joined the Liberal Democrats.
Umunna follows a well-trodden path of former lawmakers taking top finance roles.
Last year former finance minister Sajid Javid took an advisory role at JPMorgan, while this month one of his predecessors George Osborne was named a partner at M&amp;A firm Robey Warshaw. (Reporting by Iain Withers. Editing by Mark Potter)
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JPMorgan hires former UK lawmaker Chuka Umunna to ESG role

* China punishing Australia&#8217;s call for COVID-19 inquest
* Beijing introduced restrictions on Australian imports
* African countries stepping in to plug the gaps
* GRAPHIC-China switches to Guinea bauxite: https://tmsnrt.rs/2LvqX0h
* GRAPHIC-China&#8217;s Congo copper imports surge: https://tmsnrt.rs/3q2rB4j
By Joe Bavier, Tanisha Heiberg and Emma Rumney
CAPE TOWN, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; For South African winemaker Vergenoegd Löw, the pandemic could have been a disaster but a bitter trade war between China and Australia has thrown the 325-year-old estate a lifeline.
Bottles of its reds, whites and roses piled up when South Africa banned alcohol sales under a strict lockdown and visitors who once flocked to the vineyard near Cape Town to sip wine and snap photos of its famed Indian Runner ducks vanished.
That changed when Beijing slapped tariffs of up to 212% on Australian wine in November after Canberra led calls for an inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.
It wasn&#8217;t just wine. Beijing hit a range of Australian goods with punitive duties, created new layers of red tape and banned some Australian imports outright, giving African suppliers of anything from coal to beef to copper a boost.
&#8220;We can now get much greater volumes of sales,&#8221; said Shaun McVey, marketing manager at Vergenoegd Löw, which has signed a new Chinese deal. &#8220;Instead of sending maybe three or four containers in a year, we&#8217;ve upped that to 15 to 20 containers.&#8221;
Chinese drinkers bought nearly 40% of Australia&#8217;s wine exports before the long-simmering tensions between Beijing and Canberra boiled over and brought the trade to an abrupt halt.
Over the past three months, exports of South African wine to China jumped 50%, according to the Wines of South Africa trade body, and hopes are high for even more sales once Australian stocks are polished off during China&#8217;s Lunar New Year holiday.
Martyn Davies, Deloitte&#8217;s managing director for emerging markets and Africa, said a protracted trade war would create a wide window of opportunity for miners and other sectors such as agribusiness, though seizing the potential would take work.
The Chinese market presents a range of obstacles, from language barriers and inscrutable bureaucracy to tailoring marketing to its unique social media ecosystem, analysts said.
&#8220;Many African companies are significantly behind the curve,&#8221; said Deloitte&#8217;s Davies. &#8220;Australian companies have been engaging China for 35 years.&#8221;

BAUXITE BOOST
The lack of trade deals between China and countries in sub-Saharan Africa also means exporters may face an uphill battle.
Despite its increasingly important role as an investor on the continent, China only signed its first free trade agreement with an African country, the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, in January.
So while some African products may leapfrog Australian goods in the pecking order, they remain at a disadvantage when competing against exports from countries with preferential Chinese trading terms such as Chile, Peru or New Zealand.
In the mining sector though, China has spent the past decade ramping up projects in Africa to safeguard the flow of raw materials to the manufacturing juggernaut.
Those investments are now paying off and African producer countries are pocketing the royalties as exports to the world&#8217;s second biggest economy get a boost at Australia&#8217;s expense.
Last year, state-owned Aluminum Corp of China Ltd , known as Chalco, shipped the first bauxite cargo from its Guinea project, and a prolonged trade war between China and Australia is only likely to help the West African country&#8217;s economy.
Australian shipments to China of the rock used to make aluminium dropped 22% in the final quarter of 2020 while imports from Guinea leapt 70%, according to Chinese customs data.
That&#8217;s after Guinea tripled its bauxite output between 2015 and 2019 as mining projects came online, with most of it going to China. Over the same period, Guinea&#8217;s gross domestic product jumped 40%.

Chinese copper concentrate imports from Australia, meanwhile plummeted to zero in December 2020. At the same time, exports rose 17% from Democratic Republic of Congo, another country where Chinese companies such as China Molybdenum have invested heavily to secure key mineral supplies.
South Africa&#8217;s coal industry has also got a much-needed boost. Australian sales to China of thermal coal, which is mainly used in power plants, and metallurgical coal for steelmaking, slumped to zero in December.
The first shipment of South African thermal coal to China in five years landed last month and exporters are hopeful sales will increase further in 2021.
&#8216;INNOVATIVE AND BEAUTIFUL&#8217;
To overcome the lack of trade deals with China, South Africa&#8217;s Standard Bank, which is partly owned by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, has sought to level the playing field.
Africa&#8217;s largest bank measured by assets is using online platforms and events to match its customers with Chinese buyers in a bid to boost exports.
Those efforts, however, now face challenges unique to the coronavirus pandemic, such as a shipping squeeze due to global trade distortions that have sparked a bidding war for container space and pushed prices to record highs.
&#8220;You get a lot of interest. And then when people see the cost of logistics at this point in time, they end up not concluding on the transaction,&#8221; said Philip Myburgh, Standard Bank&#8217;s head of Africa-China banking.
Still, wine is one African export Standard Bank considers a good bet. So does Edouard Duval, chief executive of East Meets West Fine Wines, one of China&#8217;s biggest wine importers.
If South Africa can capture just 1% of the 38% market share Australian imports are rapidly vacating, it would double its exports to China, he said. &#8220;The potential is there &#8230; it&#8217;s a very dynamic and fast-moving market.&#8221;
South Africa typically exports less than half of its wine and earned 9.1 billion rand ($616 million) from overseas sales last year, with Britain buying by far the most. Sales to China came to just $19 million.
Even though Chinese tariffs wiped out Australian wine sales in November and December, its exports to China alone still came to A$1.01 billion ($779 million) last year.
At his &#8220;Cheers&#8221; wine store in Beijing, Lin Lulu is not too concerned about the impact of the trade war with Australia.
&#8220;South African wine now has great advantages over Australian wine because of the new tariff situation,&#8221; he said as he stocked his shelves with South African reds. &#8220;South African wines are more innovative and beautiful.&#8221; ($1 = 1.2962 Australian dollars) ($1 = 14.7621 rand)
(Additional reporting by Mike Hutchings in Cape Town, Helen Reid in Johannesburg and Thomas Suen, Tom Daly and Muyu Xu in Beijing; Editing by David Clarke)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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Africa’s miners and winemakers toast China’s row with Australia

PARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; More contagious variants of the new coronavirus are taking hold in France but their spread is not currently as fast as initially feared, Bruno Lina, a French virus specialist and a member of the scientific body advising the government, said on Wednesday.
&#8220;For now, we have the feeling the introduction of these variants is somewhat curtailed&#8221;, Lina told France Inter radio.
He added that the variant first detected in Britain now accounted for around 30-35% of COVID-19 cases in Paris/Ile-de-France region, and that the one stemming from South Africa represented 2-3% of COVID-19 cases in France at present. (Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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COVID-19 variants taking hold in France but increase not exponential -specialist

(The author is editor-at-large for finance and markets at Reuters News. Any views expressed here are his own)
By Mike Dolan
LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; The greening of the planet should mean fewer dollars need to be held in reserve around the world and may fuel persistent doubts about the greenback&#8217;s future as the dominant world currency.
In the realm of investment megatrends, an accelerating drive to renewable and sustainable energy and a long-forecast but slow decline in dollar hegemony are among the biggest.
But it&#8217;s possible serious movement on the former could pressure the latter too as &#8216;petrodollars&#8217; banked from the windfalls of oil exporting nations wane in favour of more localised and sustainable energy sources.
The push toward clean energy &#8211; catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate concerns and green priorities of new U.S. President Joe Biden &#8211; reinforces the International Energy Agency&#8217;s forecast of peak oil demand within the next decade.
Under a scenario of a surge in clean energy policies along with adherance to the Paris Agreement on arresting climate change, the IEA sees world oil demand falling by more than quarter in less than 20 years.
If dollar-denominated oil usage declines in favour of home-produced wind, solar or hydro energy sources, then the swelling pool of global petrodollars recycled and invested by the world&#8217;s big oil producers since the end of the gold standard in the 1970s may drain with it.
Chris Iggo, Axa Investment Managers&#8217; Chief Investment Officer for Core Investments, reckons the renewables push can neutralise the largely pernicious political and inflation volatility associated with the global oil trade and its reliance on a small group of producing countries &#8211; shifting toward a system of cheaper and more locally produced sources of energy.
&#8220;Politics can interfere in the supply of the technology and capital needed to exploit renewable energy, but nobody can control the sun and the wind,&#8221; he told clients.
Iggo reckons the central role of the dollar changes in that too.
&#8220;The more dispersed &#8211; and more local &#8211; nature of renewable energy production will mean less reliance on a single currency,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;The &#8216;petrodollar&#8217; is a thing of the past and the need for certain currencies to be pegged against the dollar will disappear.&#8221;
PETRO HAZE
The exchange rate impact is hazier than it seems but there may be other serious implications.
The petrodollar system that started in the 1970s largely hinged on recycling oil revenues directly or indirectly from mostly poor and developing Middle Eastern countries back into U.S. dollar deposits and debt securities &#8211; often via large financial centres such as London.
That in part gave rise to the offshore Eurodollar markets and pools of global dollar liquidity that fueled the Eurobond market in the 1980s &#8211; and everything from banking to private equity to tech startups since.
But it mainly enhanced America&#8217;s ability to run large international deficits cheaply for decades &#8211; an oft-criticised &#8216;exorbitant privilege&#8217; of printing the world&#8217;s reserve currency and &#8216;numeraire&#8217; for world energy and commerce.
And the big oil producers continue to underwrite hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. government debt &#8211; even if the United States itself is no longer a net importer.
The most recent U.S. data from November last year shows Saudi Arabia, Norway and the United Arab Emirates alone hold more than a quarter trillion dollars of $7 trillion Treasury securities held overseas, even if last year&#8217;s oil price plunge cut that by more than $50 billion over the preceding 12 months.
Add all oil producers and indirect custody holdings and the number may well be twice that.
That said, these numbers pale against more than $2 trillion in Treasuries held by oil importers Japan and China &#8211; or indeed the $4 trillion amassed by the Federal Reserve itself in pandemic-easing bond buying. And so the influence of petrodollars on U.S. borrowing costs has been watered down considerably &#8211; at least while the Fed is in support and owning a quarter of the market.
Another way of looking at the scale of petrodollars sloshing around the world is the size of sovereign wealth fund holdings. Sovereign funds from the Middle East and Norway more than doubled over decade to 2019 to more than $4 trillion.
But these have been diversified far and wide and this is where exchange rate and global market effects of reduced windfalls get more complicated.
There may be less natural demand for dollars in a less-oil dominated world &#8211; with significant reserve holding consequences. But the brimming of petro coffers around the world has filled all currencies for two decades.
Huge swings in oil prices over the past 12 years have been inversely correlated with the dollar&#8217;s exchange rate value against European currencies in particular. That proved true again though the pandemic shock and recovery over the past year.
According to a New York Fed paper from 2019, this correlation only emerged after 2000 when the Middle East and North Africa region turned from the net current account deficits of the 1980s and 1990s to a surplus as oil prices climbed.
As surpluses ballooned with rising oil prices thereafter, so did the marginal volume of wealth diversified to Europe and European currencies &#8211; and vice versa during oil price swoons.
Whether waning need for petrodollars worldwide over the next couple of decades undermines oil exporter surpluses and the oil/dollar correlation remains to be seen.
(by Mike Dolan, Twitter: @reutersMikeD)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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COLUMN-Does a greener world need less greenbacks? :Mike Dolan

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday that selling the AstraZeneca vaccine doses the country had bought was an option and that it was being considered.
&#8220;Why not sell the AstraZeneca &#8230; well it&#8217;s an option,&#8221; Mkhize told a news conference. &#8220;We will consider it, &#8230; first our scientists must tell us what to do with it.&#8221; (Reporting by Wendell Roelf and Alexander Winning Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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South Africa says selling AstraZeneca doses is an option

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 10 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s health minister said on Wednesday that the country would vaccinate health workers with Johnson &amp; Johnson&#8217;s COVID-19 vaccine in the form of an &#8220;implementation study&#8221; in partnership with the Medical Research Council.
&#8220;This will provide valuable information about the pandemic in the post-vaccination community and thus, ensure early identification of breakthrough infections should they occur amongst vaccinated health workers,&#8221; Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
He added that vaccine doses from Pfizer had also been secured for the first phase of vaccination targeting health workers. (Reporting by Alexander Winning and Wendell Roelf; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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South Africa says J&J vaccine will be given to health workers in study

By Jack Graham
TORONTO, Feb 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Countries could save millions of lives annually by 2040 if they commit to bolder plans to cut planet-heating emissions and curb global warming in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, researchers said Tuesday.
A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal found policies to that end could, each year, save 5.86 million lives due to better diets, 1.18 million lives from cleaner air and 1.15 million lives through more walking and cycling by 2040.
In 2015, governments set a global goal of limiting average temperature rise to &#8220;well below&#8221; 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times and set emissions reduction targets as a first step to getting there.
On Monday, however, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries to take bolder action ahead of November&#8217;s COP26 U.N. climate conference and come up with stronger 2030 targets consistent with cutting emissions to net zero by 2050.
The new research highlighted how the potential health benefits of climate action could give added impetus to countries to submit more ambitious national climate plans ahead of COP26.
The nine countries modeled in the study &#8211; the United States, China, Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa and Britain &#8211; represent half of the world&#8217;s population and 70% of global emissions.
Six of them have yet to submit revised climate action plans, which were due in 2020 but put back by many countries as the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the climate summit for a year.
&#8220;Ahead of COP26, we&#8217;d like to see governments focus on health as one of the priorities in climate change policies,&#8221; said lead author Ian Hamilton, executive director of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.
&#8220;There&#8217;s good evidence to show that meeting the Paris Agreement commitments will be good for our health, and that these benefits accumulate to those individuals in the countries taking leadership,&#8221; he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

SHORT-TERM WINS
Using national and international data, the study analyzed emissions generated by the energy, agriculture and transport sectors, along with factors like national diets and lifestyles.
The researchers modeled the scenarios required for each country to meet the Paris accord, including changes like adopting cleaner energy and reducing car use, as well as to achieve global development goals such as zero hunger.
They found that changes towards &#8220;flexitarian&#8221; diets &#8211; with moderate amounts of animal-based foods and a high share of plant-based foods &#8211; offered the greatest health benefits as well as reducing carbon emissions.
For example, many deaths would be avoided by lower rates of non-communicable diseases such as obesity and heart disease, connected to excessive consumption of carbon-intensive red meat and processed foods, and lack of access to fruit and vegetables.
&#8220;Why wouldn&#8217;t we prioritize investments that will save more lives near-term if they give us the same amount of carbon value?&#8221; said Aaron Bernstein, interim director of The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Changing diets is a complex challenge for governments, he noted, but potential ways to do it include subsidizing healthier foods and putting a price on the emissions produced by more carbon-intensive foods that require a lot of natural resources.
Beef production, for instance, fuels greenhouse gas emissions as carbon-storing forests are cut down for pasture and cattle burp out methane.
A focus on health is one way to make climate action more personal and appealing, Bernstein added, instead of being framed as a cost now that will bring benefits for future generations.
&#8220;We have to make this issue relevant to today, and (talk about) improving the welfare, economic opportunities and health of people in a time frame that they can get their heads around,&#8221; he said.
A separate study out on Tuesday found pollution from burning fossil fuels causes one in five premature deaths globally, totaling 8.7 million in 2018 and suggesting the health impacts of those emissions may be far higher than previously thought. (Reporting by Jack Graham; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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