(Kitco News) - We have all heard the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Certainly gold has been in a bear market. As we search for a reason to buy, gold appears to have some more room to the downside. However, this doesn't mean we can't find a reason to buy for a trade and capitalize on a short-term pop.For weeks, every rally has failed and been a selling opportunity. We don't see that chang...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold is hanging on, with minor volatility overnight. The $1,218-1,220 level was again tested overnight but with little enthusiasm. Traders are probing for weak longs. The market is now awaiting the Federal Open Market Committee meeting which begins tomorrow. It is not expected that the Fed will raise rates at this meeting, but if they do, gold will be sold aggressively. The most lik...Read More
Steel billet prices in the global markets remained steady or went up slightly during the week from Monday July 23 to Friday July 27. But demand in the major markets was still subdued, with the exception of China.AsiaBillet prices in China were 3,790 yuan ($558) per tonne on July 27, up by 70 yuan per tonne from the previous Friday.The inventory for the product in Tangshan was 310,000 tonnes on Fri...Read More
Steel billet prices in the global markets remained steady or went up slightly during the week from Monday July 23 to Friday July 27. But demand in the major markets was still subdued, with the exception of China.AsiaBillet prices in China were 3,790 yuan ($558) per tonne on July 27, up by 70 yuan per tonne from the previous Friday.The inventory for the product in Tangshan was 310,000 tonnes on Fri...Read More
European lead producer Recylex's revenue from lead sales fell by 18% year on year in the first half of this year due to a transitioning of its Weser-Metall smelter to a new reduction furnace. Recylex made ?,?124.2 million ($145.5 million) in the first half of 2018, compared with ?,?151.4 million in the same period last year. Average lead prices on the London Metal Exchange were down just 1% compar...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange ended mostly higher at the close of trading on Monday July 30, led by a 1% climb in aluminium prices while broad risk aversion continues to dominate market sentiment. Elsewhere, lead and tin prices edged higher over the afternoon, with the latter climbing back over $20,000 per tonne for the first time since June 27. While a downtick in the US dollar in...Read More
Teck Resources expects to remove partial force majeure on its germanium output after the fourth-quarter restart of one of the fuming furnaces at its zinc and lead smelting and refining complex, Trail Operations.A spokesperson for the Canadian company told Metal Bulletin that repair of the furnace, which suffered an operating disruption after a breakdown of equipment during an explosion in January,...Read More
Shipping data shows total South African manganese ore exports exceeded 8.3 million tonnes in the first six months of 2018, up 17% from the same period in 2017. The vast majority of the material was exported to China, coming in at over 5 million tonnes. Exports to India dropped to just under 700,000 tonnes. High ore prices have been deterring Indian buyers from the market because they cannot earn a...Read More
Antimony prices in Europe rose 0.6% from the midweek assessment on Friday July 27, while prices in China were stable week on week on low demand. Prices for antimony with bismuth content below 100ppm in-warehouse Rotterdam edged up to $7,900-8,200 per tonne on Friday from $7,800-8,200 per tonne on Wednesday, when prices had climbed from $7,800-8,100 per tonne. Metal Bulletin's MMTA standa...Read More
Teck Resources expects to remove partial force majeure on its germanium output after the fourth-quarter restart of one of the fuming furnaces at its zinc and lead smelting and refining complex, Trail Operations.A spokesperson for the Canadian company told Metal Bulletin that repair of the furnace, which suffered an operating disruption after a breakdown of equipment during an explosion in January,...Read More
Turkish steel producers stayed out of the deep-sea scrap markets at the start of the week, with no new deep-sea cargoes coming to light on Monday July 30.Metal Bulletin's daily index for Northern European HMS 1&2 (80:20) closed the day at $328.77 per tonne cfr, unchanged from July 27.The daily index for similar material from the United States closed at $335.93 per tonne cfr,...Read More
The price of domestic auto bundle scrap in Turkey has been steady over the past week while the price of shipbreaking scrap has fallen slightly because of weak demand, sources said on Monday July 30.Steel producers in the Izmir region decreased their buying price for ship scrap by $5-9 per tonne over the week to $330-338 per tonne delivered.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for Turkish domes...Read More
Comex copper prices drifted into negative territory to open the week on Monday July 30, although the market was awaiting supply news out of South America.The price of copper for September settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by 1.65 cents or 0.6% to $2.7855 per lb."While we think the summer sell-off in copper is not justified from a fundamental perspective, we...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were broadly weaker on the morning of Monday July 30, with zinc (-0.9%), copper (-0.7%), lead (-0.2%) and nickel (-0.1%) all down, while aluminium and tin prices were up by 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.The weakness in copper - at $6,202 per tonne as at 06.15am London time - comes despite the union at Chile's Escondida copper mine, the world...Read More
Prices for hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) steel sheet in Russia's central region around Moscow will increase in August, producers have told Metal Bulletin, with higher demand expected and outages planned in September."Mills have told us that they will increase prices in August," a steel trader in Russia said. "This will stimulate demand, while some outages are expected in early autumn."Metal...Read More
The export markets for hot-rolled coil (HRC) and cold-rolled coil (CRC) from the Commonwealth of Independent States were flat as buyers remained wary of further price declines due to weak prices for Chinese material. One trader told Metal Bulletin that buyers right now prefer to postpone bookings "and wait [to see] what will happen to [the] Chinese market, as further reduction is possible the...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices remained high on Monday July 30 although trading was sparse, sources said. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,290-4,300 yuan ($630-631) per tonne, narrowing upward 20 yuan per tonne Northern China (Tianjin): 4,220-4,230 yuan per tonne, up 10-30 yuan per tonne Domestic prices have been high following Friday's surges. The price rebound followed continuous produ...Read More
Prices for US domestic and imported merchant bar products both held steady month on month, due to stable market conditions and the Section 232 tariffs largely excluding offshore bars from the US market.American Metal Market's latest assessment for US domestic 2 x 2 x 1/4 -inch angle merchant bar remained at $38.05 per hundredweight ($761 per short ton) on Friday July 2, where the price land...Read More
Import prices for rebar in Singapore were stable over the past week on a lack of demand in the spot market.Metal Bulletin's assessment of import prices for rebar in Southeast Asia - which mainly looks at cargoes sold into Singapore on a theoretical weight basis - was $553-555 per tonne cfr for the week to Monday July 30, unchanged from the preceding week.Buyers were not in the market for cargoes h...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Monday July 30.Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange were down 1.4% during morning trading on Monday July 30, with the market wary of ongoing contract disagreements at BHP's Escondida mine in Chile.Falling to an intraday low of $6,162 per tonne, copper's three-month price...Read More