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By Libby George and Karin Strohecker LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The need for emerging economies to be more transparent about their debt is one issue uniting wealthy countries and multilateral lenders in a fractious, divided world where the international order and development finance face pressure. The World Bank in June launched a call for "radical" debt transparency and the United States outlined transparency as a key goal for international financial institutions under President Donald Trump's leadership. But in the past several years, the riskiest of those nations – so-called frontier market countries – have been taking on more private, complex and "creative" debt arrangements that inadvertently undercut the visibility of the terms of their debt. "Everybody loves transparency…(but) whatever the confidentiality clauses say, we are seeing a lot less of the documentation of commercial bank and other private lending," said Anna Gelpern, a law professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. who works on debt issues. Collateralised lending to countries in strife that had dwindling options of raising funds causes particular issues, she added. "That means that everything is going dark in terms of debt transparency." LIMITED ACCESS FOR BORROWERS Countries from Panama and Colombia to Angola and Cameroon have sought to weather double-digit bond yields by seeking less conventional borrowing – from private placements to resource-backed loans or complex debt swaps requiring collateral. While this is not on its own untoward, it means the terms of the debt – the cost, the collateral and even sometimes the tenure or amount – are not public. This contrasts with international bond issuance where terms of the borrowing are published. Some investors say the borrowing is a smart, sophisticated way to wait out times when bond markets might not be so easily accessible. But others warn this makes the total debt pile less transparent. "With regards to collateralized borrowing, these kinds of hidden instruments, institutions like the IMF should be very worried about it, because they really then make the concept of preferred creditor very complicated," said Reza Baqir, head of sovereign advisory at Alvarez & Marsal. NET NEGATIVE, COST SAVING The IMF estimated in a paper earlier this year that private lending to low-income countries outside international bonds as a percentage of their public and publicly guaranteed debt had risen to 10% by end-2023 from 6% at end-2010. Overall private lending – including international bond issuance – rose to 19% from 6%. Victor Mourad of Citi said international bond issuance from Sub-Saharan African markets had been net negative – meaning governments raised less than they paid back – for the past three years. Governments have sought cheaper funding sources – such as loans backed by development finance institutions such as the World Bank – and also more "creativity" via private placements and borrowing facilities in different currencies, though the alternatives they seek vary. Nigeria has in the past secured oil-backed loans using crude oil cargoes as collateral. Angola opted for a $1 billion "total return swap" with JPMorgan, with privately placed bonds as collateral. Aaron Grehan, co-head of emerging market debt with Aviva Investors, said Colombia and Panama had also avoided public debt markets, the former with dollar-bond buybacks and a total return swap, the latter with private placements. Both had done well in these deals, he said, but will need to return to capital markets before too long due to the sheer amount they need. "You kick the can down the road," he said. When they return to public markets, investors will need to unpick their debt to try to determine what governments can sustainably borrow and repay. "We have to do the homework and figure out if what is happening makes sense," said Elina Theodorakopoulou, managing director and portfolio manager with Manulife Investment Management. "If there is not enough transparency, that will be translated into the yield that you have to face if you were to access the market." Countries themselves say the deals have saved them money. Angola is still deciding on whether to extend its total return swap with JPMorgan, despite getting stung with a temporary $200 million margin call when oil prices slid. "The cost of those financings is lower than the Eurobond," said Dorivaldo Teixeira, general director of the public debt management unit at Angola's finance ministry, while acknowledging the risks involved. PUBLIC BORROWING, BUT HARDER TO ASSESS At this week's IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, one of the issues the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable will seek to tackle is the trouble of restructuring private debt. That has snared Zambia and Ghana in default for longer than expected. Sources said governments and advisors underestimated how hard it would be to unpick, determining who holds it, on what terms and whether there was collateral which can put one borrower ahead in the queue. This complicates debt reworks, in which all borrowers, ostensibly, must get equal treatment. "It raises risks," said Thys Louw, a portfolio manager with Ninety One. "Anything that's marginally opaque adds complexity." (Reporting by Libby George and Karin Strohecker, Additional reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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By Libby George and Karin Strohecker LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The need for emerging economies to be more transparent about their debt is one issue uniting wealthy countries and multilateral lenders in a fractious, divided world where the international order and development finance face pressure. The World Bank in June launched a call for "radical" debt transparency and the United States outlined transparency as a key goal for international financial institutions under President Donald Trump's leadership. But in the past several years, the riskiest of those nations – so-called frontier market countries – have been taking on more private, complex and "creative" debt arrangements that inadvertently undercut the visibility of the terms of their debt. "Everybody loves transparency…(but) whatever the confidentiality clauses say, we are seeing a lot less of the documentation of commercial bank and other private lending," said Anna Gelpern, a law professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. who works on debt issues. Collateralised lending to countries in strife that had dwindling options of raising funds causes particular issues, she added. "That means that everything is going dark in terms of debt transparency." LIMITED ACCESS FOR BORROWERS Countries from Panama and Colombia to Angola and Cameroon have sought to weather double-digit bond yields by seeking less conventional borrowing – from private placements to resource-backed loans or complex debt swaps requiring collateral. While this is not on its own untoward, it means the terms of the debt – the cost, the collateral and even sometimes the tenure or amount – are not public. This contrasts with international bond issuance where terms of the borrowing are published. Some investors say the borrowing is a smart, sophisticated way to wait out times when bond markets might not be so easily accessible. But others warn this makes the total debt pile less transparent. "With regards to collateralized borrowing, these kinds of hidden instruments, institutions like the IMF should be very worried about it, because they really then make the concept of preferred creditor very complicated," said Reza Baqir, head of sovereign advisory at Alvarez & Marsal. NET NEGATIVE, COST SAVING The IMF estimated in a paper earlier this year that private lending to low-income countries outside international bonds as a percentage of their public and publicly guaranteed debt had risen to 10% by end-2023 from 6% at end-2010. Overall private lending – including international bond issuance – rose to 19% from 6%. Victor Mourad of Citi said international bond issuance from Sub-Saharan African markets had been net negative – meaning governments raised less than they paid back – for the past three years. Governments have sought cheaper funding sources – such as loans backed by development finance institutions such as the World Bank – and also more "creativity" via private placements and borrowing facilities in different currencies, though the alternatives they seek vary. Nigeria has in the past secured oil-backed loans using crude oil cargoes as collateral. Angola opted for a $1 billion "total return swap" with JPMorgan, with privately placed bonds as collateral. Aaron Grehan, co-head of emerging market debt with Aviva Investors, said Colombia and Panama had also avoided public debt markets, the former with dollar-bond buybacks and a total return swap, the latter with private placements. Both had done well in these deals, he said, but will need to return to capital markets before too long due to the sheer amount they need. "You kick the can down the road," he said. When they return to public markets, investors will need to unpick their debt to try to determine what governments can sustainably borrow and repay. "We have to do the homework and figure out if what is happening makes sense," said Elina Theodorakopoulou, managing director and portfolio manager with Manulife Investment Management. "If there is not enough transparency, that will be translated into the yield that you have to face if you were to access the market." Countries themselves say the deals have saved them money. Angola is still deciding on whether to extend its total return swap with JPMorgan, despite getting stung with a temporary $200 million margin call when oil prices slid. "The cost of those financings is lower than the Eurobond," said Dorivaldo Teixeira, general director of the public debt management unit at Angola's finance ministry, while acknowledging the risks involved. PUBLIC BORROWING, BUT HARDER TO ASSESS At this week's IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, one of the issues the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable will seek to tackle is the trouble of restructuring private debt. That has snared Zambia and Ghana in default for longer than expected. Sources said governments and advisors underestimated how hard it would be to unpick, determining who holds it, on what terms and whether there was collateral which can put one borrower ahead in the queue. This complicates debt reworks, in which all borrowers, ostensibly, must get equal treatment. "It raises risks," said Thys Louw, a portfolio manager with Ninety One. "Anything that's marginally opaque adds complexity." (Reporting by Libby George and Karin Strohecker, Additional reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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By Miho Uranaka and Echo Wang TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Investors expect the valuation of PayPay could exceed 3 trillion yen ($20 billion) as SoftBank prepares for an initial public offering of the Japanese payments app operator in the United States as early as December, according to two sources. SoftBank has been meeting with institutional investors since mid-September to discuss potential valuations in the IPO, the sources, who are familiar with the matter, said. Investors see 2 trillion yen as a baseline but expect the valuation could top 3 trillion yen, according to the sources. The potential valuation and the views of investors are being reported by Reuters for the first time. PayPay declined to comment. The sources declined to be named as the information is not public, and cautioned that deliberations are continuing and factors including valuation remain subject to market conditions. The deliberations come as the U.S. IPO market enjoyed its busiest quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021, with companies raising $24 billion through first-time share sales in the third quarter, according to Dealogic. The baseline valuation is based on expansion of PayPay's Japanese business but there is a range of views among investors about its prospects for growing its overseas footprint, which could support a higher valuation, one of the sources said. PayPay announced last month that users would be able to make payments abroad, beginning with South Korea, which is a popular foreign destination for Japanese travellers. "The key focus going forward will be to what extent overseas expansion can be realistically pictured as a growth story, given the lack of business foundations not only in the U.S. but also in Asia," said the source. PayPay has played a role in encouraging Japanese consumers to move away from a long-standing preference for cash by offering rebates on payments through its mobile app. It is the market leader in QR code payments and also offers services including banking and credit cards. Reuters reported in August SoftBank has selected investment banks for the potential IPO. Japan's cashless payments ratio exceeded 40% last year, compared to more than 80% in South Korea and China. The industry ministry aims to lift that further, as part of efforts to cut costs and address labour shortages. SoftBank's telecoms arm reported that operating profit at its financial segment, which includes PayPay, more than doubled to 18.1 billion yen in the April-June quarter. "Structural profit improvement is progressing, and future growth can be anticipated," said SBI Securities analyst Yukari Housui. PayPay is taking steps to bolster its cryptocurrency business. Last week PayPay said it has acquired a 40% stake in the Japanese business of Binance and plans to launch new crypto services. PayPay's ownership is split between a number of SoftBank entities: wireless carrier SoftBank Corp, the Vision Fund investment arm, and internet business LY Corp, which is a joint venture between SoftBank and Naver Corp. Companies around the world are looking to list in the U.S. as they seek higher valuations. Around 20 Japanese companies have listed there in the last five years although in some cases they have underperformed and later delisted. Round One, an operator of amusement attractions, is considering overseas listings for two subsidiaries as it expands in the U.S. and looks to boost its brand recognition. ($1 = 153.0800 yen) (Reporting by Miho Uranaka and Echo Wang; Writing by Sam Nussey;Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Gregor Stuart Hunter: Container ports are the new economic battlegrounds. As negotiations between the U.S. and China intensify, the two nations will from today begin charging port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from toys to crude oil. S&P 500 futures erased earlier gains to fall as much as 0.4% after China's commerce ministry fired off another broadside, saying the U.S. cannot seek talks while also making threats. That came after President Donald Trump on Friday announced additional tariffs on Chinese goods from November 1. The trade worries snuffed out a rebound for stocks that began on Wall Street on Monday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump remains on track to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October. A rally in Asia's tech sector briefly kept regional equities above water after OpenAI said it partnered with Broadcom to produce its first in-house artificial intelligence processors. That pushed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shares to a record, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.9% after Samsung Electronics projected a 32% rise in third-quarter profit, beating estimates. China's No. 1 automaker BYD rose 1% after tipping Spain as its top candidate for a third car factory to serve the European market, sources told Reuters. The yen firmed a tad against the dollar after Japan's finance minister warned the country needs a new economic strategy that deals with inflation, rather than deflation, which was yesterday's villain.  Gold gained 1.3% to $4,164.90 per ounce, showing little sign of pausing for breath as precious metals continue to set records. The same could not be said for digital gold, with bitcoin last down 1.8% at $113,719.84, while ether slipped 3% to $4,161.86. In early European trade, pan-region futures were last up 0.2%, German DAX futures rose 0.1% and FTSE futures were down 0.1%. Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday: Economic data: Germany: CPI and HICP for September, ZEW Economic Sentiment and Current Conditions for October United Kingdom: Unemployment Claimant Count Change and HMRC Payrolls Change for September, ILO Unemployment Rate and Average Weekly Earnings for August Debt auctions Germany: 2-year government debt auction (Reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Sam Holmes)

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By Anjana Anil and Emily Chow SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Tuesday as early signs of a thaw in U.S.-China trade tensions bolstered market sentiment, alleviating concerns over global fuel demand. U.S. President Donald Trump remains committed to meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea this month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, as both countries try to defuse tension over tariff threats and export controls. There were substantial communications between the two sides over the weekend and more meetings were expected, he added. Brent crude futures rose 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $63.54 a barrel by 0405 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $59.71 a barrel, up 22 cents, or 0.4%. In the previous session, Brent settled 0.9% higher, and U.S. WTI closed up 1%. "Oil steadied as investors weighed U.S.–China tensions against demand," Saxo Bank analysts said in a note, adding that Trump had softened his tone and signalled openness to a deal. The prospect of improved trade ties between the world's two largest economies has historically buoyed oil markets, as investors anticipate stronger global growth and increased fuel demand. However, recent developments, such as Beijing's expanded export controls on rare earths and Trump's threats of 100% tariffs and software export curbs from November 1, have weighed on sentiment. Last week, oil prices posted weekly losses and touched their lowest levels since May. Trump had also cast doubt on prospects for a meeting with Xi during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea set for October 30 and November 1, saying on Truth Social, "Now there seems to be no reason to do so." While the selloff in markets seems to be limited by the more conciliatory tone between Washington and Beijing, their relations are expected to stay in the spotlight. "The oil industry continues to navigate geopolitical issues," said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes. "China announced that it would levy U.S.-owned ships arriving at its shores, including oil tankers. That sparked several last-minute cancellations and a jump in shipping rates." Limiting the market's upside, Trump declared the end on Monday of the two-year-long Gaza war that has disrupted the wider Middle East. In its monthly report on Monday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and allies including Russia, said the oil market's supply shortfall would shrink in 2026, as the wider OPEC+ alliance proceeds with planned output increases. (Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Clarence Fernandez)

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The implementation of a U.S. tariff on Singapore's pharmaceutical exports has been delayed to allow companies to negotiate possible exemptions with the U.S. administration, the Straits Times newspaper cited a junior minister as saying on Tuesday. The U.S. announced a 100% tariff on branded drugs last month and it was originally meant to take effect from October 1. The Straits Times did not say if the minister of state for trade, Gan Siow Huang, gave a fresh date for the tariff's introduction. But she said Singapore-based pharmaceutical companies are now waiting to hear from the U.S. administration to determine if their plans to build and expand manufacturing capacity would qualify them for an exemption, the paper reported. Singapore's exports to the United States are subject to a 10% baseline tariff. That is lower than the tariffs imposed on its Southeast Asian neighbours, but sectoral levies – including the 100% tariff on branded drugs – remain a significant concern. Singapore exports about S$4 billion ($3.1 billion) of pharmaceutical products to the United States, most of which are branded drugs, and pharmaceuticals form around 13% of all Singapore's exports to the country. Broader sectoral tariffs could hurt demand for Singaporean products, including semiconductors and consumer electronics as well as pharmaceutical goods. The three sectors account for about 40% of exports to the United States, the central bank said in July. The effective U.S. tariff rate on Singapore's exports rose to 7.8% in July from 6.8% in April on the back of steel and aluminium tariff hikes. Trade talks between both countries are ongoing, including on a preferential tariff arrangement for Singapore's pharmaceutical exports, the Straits Times cited Gan as saying. (Reporting by Xinghui Kok; Editing by David Stanway)

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By Nathan Vifflin and Toby Sterling (Reuters) -Multi-billion dollar deals between AI firms and computer chipmakers are expected to strengthen top semiconductor equipment maker ASML's outlook when it reports third-quarter earnings on Wednesday.      Investors and analysts expect to see evidence that customers of the Dutch firm, such as TSMC and SK Hynix, are stepping up plans to expand capacity in 2026 and beyond. Expectations are high following a 32% run-up in ASML shares since September 2, against a 15% rise in the benchmark Philadelphia Semiconductor Index in the same period. HOPES FOR AI DATACENTER EXPANSION FUEL CHIP MARKET RALLY In July, ASML management said it was not sure revenue would grow in 2026, amid weakness at customers Samsung and Intel. Since then, AI megadeals have sparked a chip market rally on hopes for massive datacenter expansion. New bookings, the industry's most closely watched figure at ASML, are forecast at 5.36 billion euros ($6.21 billion) in the third quarter, say analysts polled by researcher Visible Alpha. In the first half, new bookings totalled 9.48 billion euros. The company is also expected to report a 1.4% increase in third-quarter net income to 2.11 billion euros from a year earlier, according to LSEG IBES data. Firms, including Meta and Oracle, announced deals with chip suppliers including NVIDIA, AMD, Intel and Samsung. All of these spell impending demand for ASML tools, essential for creating the circuitry of chips. "It's clear that the sentiment has changed, management will need to give some indication of what they are seeing in the market," said Morningstar analyst Javier Correonero. CAN CUSTOMERS INFLUENCE SPEED OF BUILDING PLANTS? But building chipmaking plants takes years, and analysts want ASML to explain to what extent customers are able to accelerate plans. "Every memory chipmaker is likely to increase production capacity for AI – Micron, SK Hynix, Samsung, even Chinese players," said Degroof Petercam analyst Michael Roeg. At $300 million or more apiece, ASML's tools are the priciest equipment in a chip factory, but they have a lengthy delivery lead time of 8-12 months.  Chipmakers must balance the cost of ordering them too early or being unable to produce chips if they arrive too late. During the COVID pandemic, ASML's order backlog soared as it was unable to meet demand. It has since been working to expand capacity.  Top customer TSMC, which manufactures almost all advanced AI chips, is expected to increase purchases, and Intel's outlook has also improved, analysts said. ($1 = 0.8633 euros) (Reporting by Nathan Vifflin in Gdansk, Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Bernadette Baum)

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SYDNEY, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Australia's central bank saw no need for an immediate cut in interest rates at its September policy meeting given some stickiness in services inflation and steady employment, while future easing would be data dependent. Minutes of the meeting released on Tuesday, showed the Reserve Bank of Australia board would be focused on readings for inflation and consumption in the third quarter when it next meets on November 4. The board decided to hold the cash rate at 3.60%, following three quarter-point cuts so far this year, and judged there were still risks to the upside and downside for the economy. "There was no need for an immediate reduction in the cash rate target," they concluded. "Looking ahead, members noted that it was appropriate for the Board's decisions to remain cautious and data dependent." Markets imply around a 50-50 chance the RBA will ease at its next meeting, with a 70% probability of a move in December. Just one more cut is fully priced in, and only a modest chance of reaching 3.10%. The board judged policy was still a little restrictive, though a pick-up in house prices and home loans suggested past rate cuts were have some impact. Consumer demand had also picked up faster than previously expected and looked like continuing, th minutes showed, though some more recent data has cast some doubt on the strength of spending. The board noted monthly readings on consumer prices for July and August pointed to upside risk for third-quarter inflation, particularly on services and home building costs. Markets suspect a high reading for core inflation, due later this month, would argue against an near-term rate cut. Analysts generally assume a rise of 0.7% or less for the quarter would green light an easing, while 0.9% or more would likely prevent a move. An increase of 0.8% is a grey area, making a cut a line ball call for the RBA board. On the labour market, board members judged it was still a little tight overall, though the extent was hard to determine. While employment growth had slowed, the jobless rate remained steady at 4.2% in August. Some members also noted indicators suggested a risk wage growth in the private sector could slow more than expected in coming months. The global outlook remained highly uncertain, with the impact of U.S. tariffs still feeding through and the Chinese economy looking weaker than previously expected. (Reporting by Wayne Cole) Keywords: AUSTRALIA RBA/MINUTES

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BENGALURU (Reuters) -Alphabet Inc's Google will invest $10 billion to set up a massive data centre and artificial intelligence hub in Andhra Pradesh, officials from the southern Indian state said, marking its biggest such investment in the South Asian nation. Google will build a 1-gigawatt data centre campus in the port city of Visakhapatnam, combining AI infrastructure, large-scale energy sources, and an expanded fibre-optic network, according to a statement from the state government. A formal agreement is expected to be signed on Tuesday. The move comes amid intensifying competition among big tech companies, which are spending heavily on building new data centre infrastructure to meet booming demand for AI services. "In an era where data is the new oil, such initiatives will serve as a strategic advantage," state IT minister Nara Lokesh said. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Sarita Chaganti Singh in New Delhi; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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By Gregor Stuart Hunter SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stocks stumbled on Tuesday, as signs the U.S. and China were preparing for trade talks later this month were tempered by uncertainty over whether the two nations could strike a durable deal. Early gains for MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan and the S&P 500 futures petered out to trade flat. Markets had earlier joined the rebound from Monday's cash session after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said U.S. President Donald Trump remains on track to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October. Wall Street's main indexes ended as much as 2.2% higher overnight, led by chipmakers, after Trump struck a more conciliatory tone on trade tensions with China. Global equities had abruptly turned red on Friday after Trump announced 100% tariffs on China, reviving memories of the market volatility after April's "Liberation Day" announcement. The selloff only halted after the U.S. president cooled his rhetoric on his Truth Social network. Citi analysts wrote in a research report that they do not expect an escalation of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.  "The reason is not so much the reassuring President Trump tweet over the weekend, but the fact that China may be the only country with bargaining power, where the U.S. may have to be more flexible in its negotiation stance." But a spokesperson for China's commerce ministry said on Tuesday the U.S. cannot seek talks while also making threats, keeping markets on edge over the chances for a broader trade deal. The U.S. and China on Tuesday will begin charging port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil, making the high seas a key front in the trade war between the world's two largest economies. After early gains in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.4%, while in the mainland, the CSI 300 gauge of blue-chip Chinese stocks slipped 0.1%. Asian stocks were led by a 0.8% surge in Taiwan's market as TSMC rose to a record, after OpenAI said it has partnered with Broadcom to produce its first in-house artificial intelligence processors. South Korea's Kospi index gained 0.6% after Samsung Electronics on Tuesday projected a 32% rise in third-quarter operating profit from a year earlier, beating analysts' estimates as demand for conventional memory chips helped offset the company's weaker high bandwidth memory chip sales.  Japan's Nikkei stock index fell 1.2% as the country's markets reopened after a holiday. Against the yen, the U.S. dollar was little changed at 152.31 yen. The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.1% lower at 99.246.  Traders continue to expect easing from the Federal Reserve later this month is a near-certainty. Pricing of Fed funds futures implies a 96.7% probability of a 25-basis-point cut to interest rates at the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting on October 29, compared with a 98.3% chance a day earlier, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. The euro was barely moved at $1.1571 after French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to resign on Monday, as his latest government was threatened by two no-confidence motions that could bring it down by the end of the week. Brent crude was last up 0.2% at $63.45 per barrel after an OPEC report on Monday showed world oil supply is expected to closely match demand next year as the wider OPEC+ group increases production, marking a change from last month's outlook, which projected a supply shortfall in 2026. Gold gained 1.1% to $4,155.90 per ounce, showing little sign of pausing for breath as precious metals continue to set records. Bitcoin fell 1.9% to $113,629.29, while ether slipped 3% to $4,161.79. (Reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Shri Navaratnam)

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