SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures fell across the board on Friday March 2 with SHFE nickel down over 2% and lead fell close to 1%. The ferrous complex also closed lower except for a small rise in hot-rolled coil.Copper: The SHFE 1804 contract rallied twice during the day and hit a high at 52,700 yuan/mt. With support at 52,000 yuan/mt, SHFE copper is expected to be rangebound...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures fell across the board on Friday March 2 with SHFE nickel down over 2% and lead fell close to 1%. The ferrous complex also closed lower except for a small rise in hot-rolled coil.Copper: The SHFE 1804 contract rallied twice during the day and hit a high at 52,700 yuan/mt. With support at 52,000 yuan/mt, SHFE copper is expected to be rangebound...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 21 points in pre-opening trade. The Canadian Dollar dropped another U.S. 0.30 to 77.69 cents after President Trump announced intentions to place tariffs on aluminum and steel. Canada is the biggest supplier of aluminum to the U.S. The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged following release of Canada's December GDP r...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange mostly closed the week in negative territory on Friday March 2, with aluminium the sole exception.The three-month aluminium price held steady throughout today's trading while the market assessed news that US President Donald Trump intends impose a 10% tariff on aluminium imports."Who knows what it will mean to for exchange prices? For sure it will affect th...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) – Nickel ore inventory at Chinese ports dropped to 7.15 million wmt as of Friday March 2, SMM data showed. This fell by 275,000 wmt from a week ago. The port inventory translated to 58,300 mt in metal content, down 2,500 mt on a weekly basis. For editorial queries, please contact Daisy Tseng at daisy@smm.cn For more information on how to access our resear...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) – Spot zinc discounts in the Shanghai market continued to widen downwards over the past week on high inventories, slower consumption recovery and tighter cash, SMM learned.Many smelters maintained normal operations during the Chinese New Year holiday last month and accumulated inventories. This gave pressure to the market and led traders to cut prices in order to offloa...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macro-economic news last night and what is expected today.Last nightThe US dollar index edged down slightly from a six-week high to 90.2 following the Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s statement that the US economy was not overheating and President Donald Trump’s announcement of imposing global tariffs on steel and aluminium...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday March 2.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were little changed during morning trading with the complex restricted by thin liquidity and a firmer dollar.Here's how base metals prices look at 12.19pm London time: Read our live futures report here.In other exchange news, deliverable copper stocks at S...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macro-economic news last night and what is expected today.Last nightThe US dollar index edged down slightly from a six-week high to 90.2 following the Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s statement that the US economy was not overheating and President Donald Trump’s announcement of imposing global tariffs on steel and aluminium...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macro-economic news last night and what is expected today.Last nightThe US dollar index edged down slightly from a six-week high to 90.2 following the Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s statement that the US economy was not overheating and President Donald Trump’s announcement of imposing global tariffs on steel and aluminium...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) -Copper: LME copper fell to a low of $6,858.5/mt last night while SHFE copper closed at 52,520 yuan/mt. We expect LME copper to trade at $6,850-6,920/mt today with the SHFE 1805 contract at 52,300-52,800 yuan/mt. Spot discounts are seen widening to 210-130 yuan/mt as sellers were keen to destock.Aluminium: LME aluminium rebounded and hit a high at $2,164.5/mt as US President...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's office in Singapore as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Friday March 2.Base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange remained weak during Asian morning trading on Friday, with only aluminium and copper prices showing some resilience - the former finding support from news that US President Donald Trump will enact a 10% tariff on aluminium...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) -Copper: LME copper fell to a low of $6,858.5/mt last night while SHFE copper closed at 52,520 yuan/mt. We expect LME copper to trade at $6,850-6,920/mt today with the SHFE 1805 contract at 52,300-52,800 yuan/mt. Spot discounts are seen widening to 210-130 yuan/mt as sellers were keen to destock.Aluminium: LME aluminium rebounded and hit a high at $2,164.5/mt as US President...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 2 (SMM) -Copper: LME copper fell to a low of $6,858.5/mt last night while SHFE copper closed at 52,520 yuan/mt. We expect LME copper to trade at $6,850-6,920/mt today with the SHFE 1805 contract at 52,300-52,800 yuan/mt. Spot discounts are seen widening to 210-130 yuan/mt as sellers were keen to destock.Aluminium: LME aluminium rebounded and hit a high at $2,164.5/mt as US President...Read More
US President Donald Trump's decision to enact a 10% tariff on aluminium imports is expected to give suppliers stronger grounds to ask for higher premiums for second-quarter aluminium supply to main Japanese ports (MJP), market participants said. Trump confirmed on Thursday March 1 that he will impose a 10% tariff on aluminium imports into the United States as a result of the Section 232 inves...Read More
Peru's government has hailed the successful auction of the Michiquillay copper project as a sign of a revival in mining investment in the Andean nation, but several industry participants dispute that notion.Southern Copper Corp, controlled by Grupo Mexico, last week won a public tender to develop the world-class mining project in Peru's northern region of Cajamarca with an offer of $400 million. T...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange mostly closed the week in negative territory on Friday March 2, with aluminium the sole exception.The three-month aluminium price held steady throughout today's trading while the market assessed news that US President Donald Trump intends impose a 10% tariff on aluminium imports."Who knows what it will mean to for exchange prices? For sure it will affect th...Read More
Trading activity in the seaborne coking coal market picked up ahead of the weekend, which saw the first cargo of premium low-vol product being sold to a Chinese buyer on a fixed-price basis in at least a week.The top-tier cargo changed hands around $238 per tonne cfr China, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday March 2. A cargo of second-tier materials was also traded at $195 per tonne fob Austral...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were little changed during morning trading on Friday March 2, with the complex restricted by thin liquidity and a firmer dollar. Aluminium's benchmark cash/three-month spread swung back into contango for the first time since February 14 this morning - now at $1.75 per tonne contango from $6 per tonne backwardation at the close yesterday.The backwarda...Read More
The UK inter-merchant price range for austenitic alloy steel scrap has gone unchanged this week because a rise in nickel prices at the end of last week was offset by a later drop this week, sources said on Friday March 2.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for inter-merchant 18/8 scrap solids in the UK was ?950-990 ($1,306-1,361) per tonne delivered on Friday, unchanged over the week."The ni...Read More