The copper price on Comex surged to a multi-week high in morning trading in the US on Tuesday July 24 amid a bout of technical buying and a softer dollar....Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. ...Read More
ArcelorMittal has informed the Extraordinary Commissioners responsible for Italian steelmaker Ilva that it "accepts all the substantive requests for additional commitments with respect to the lease and purchase contract signed in June 2017," the company said on Tuesday July 24....Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. ...Read More
Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were mostly stable this week, with the only changes being seen in the price ranges for imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC), sources told Metal Bulletin on Tuesday July 24....Read More
Hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) steel sheet suppliers to Russia's central region around Moscow have not cut their prices further this week despite low levels of demand....Read More
Rebounds coming? After the long drawn-out period of price weakness, the base metals seem to have found some support. A weak dollar and oversold technical conditions have helped trigger some buying, and China’s announcement of tax cuts, infrastructure spending and injection into the banking system this week may just be the catalyst needed to bring about short-covering and more bargain hunting....Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Tuesday July 24....Read More
Price consolidating, helped by dollar remaining under pressure Although little progress was made in resolving rising trade uncertainties at the G20 meeting over the weekend, the US dollar remains under modest pressure at the start of this week after US President Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates and accused other central banks of manipulating their currencies l...Read More
Aluminium Aluminium prices are carrying out some much-needed consolidation, after finding strong support around $2,000 per tonne. Momentum indicators are starting to look more constructive; the stochastics have crossed higher, while the RSI has edged up to 38 from an oversold 28 on July 19. The fact that prices have held previous support from the December 2017 lows is encouraging, while a tai...Read More
Chinese ferro-silicon prices continued to decline in the week to Friday July 20 amid weak demand and production ramp-ups, while European prices staged a slight recovery following a steep fall in the prior week. ...Read More
Down for 6th straight week While the LME copper price dropped for a sixth week in a row last week (-1.0%, closing Friday at $6,152 per tonne), the pace of selling has gradually eased while trading volumes have weakened. This could suggest that the magnitude of selling interest has receded and that an inflection point is around the corner. Despite positive fundamental news flow (more details below)...Read More
Into bear market territory Lead prices dropped to a low of $2,095 per tonne last week, extending the fall from the June high of $2,555.50 per tonne. Prices are now down 18% from the June high and 22% from the February high of $2,685 per tonne – a correction of over 20% is considered to indicate a bear market. On the chart, the next level where we would expect strong support is around $2,045 p...Read More
Suppliers cut seaborne and port prices for low-grade manganese ore in response to aggressive bids from consumers. ...Read More
Another big deficit reported by INSG The latest INSG supply-demand data was released last week and, once again, made for bullish reading as another substantial global market deficit was reported for the month of May. The group estimated that world refined nickel demand exceeded supply during the month by 15,400 tonnes. It also raised its preliminary deficit for April from 13,100 tonnes to 14,700 t...Read More
Tin relatively more resilient After a notable loss of 7% in Q2, LME tin has proven more resilient than its peers since the start of Q3, down roughly 1% vs a drop of ~7% in the LMEX. The sharp sell-off in the LMEX is due to large price declines in lead (-11%), zinc (-10%), nickel (-10%), and copper (-7%). Although LME tin ended in negative territory last week, it rebounded notably in the second hal...Read More
Price volatility jumps Price action was extremely volatile last week. The LME three-month zinc price posted an intra-day range of $160 per tonne on Thursday, July 16, the largest since August 2017. Across the week, the price moved by an average of 4.5% per day, compared with 3.7% the previous week and by an average of 2.2% per day during June. The latest Commitments of Traders data showed position...Read More
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Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed on the morning of Tuesday July 24; while copper prices were up by 0.4% at $6,154 per tonne, aluminium and tin prices were down by 0.4% and the rest were little changed. Volume has, however, been above average - some 13,479 lots had traded across the complex as at 8.05am London time. Gold and silver prices were a little weaker,...Read More