JOHANNESBURG, Nov 21 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand rose inearly trade against a softer dollar on Wednesday, in line with arise in local bonds and stocks as investor appetite for riskierassets was boosted. * At 0650 GMT, the rand traded 0.25 percent firmerat14.0600 per dollar, after closing at 14.0950 in New York. * The currency is expected to trade in a range of 13.9500 to14.2000 to the dollar o...Read More

"VOLUME WILL BE LOW BEGINNING TOMORROW FOR THANKSGIVING SHUTDOWN IN USA & will remain low until next week.In other words the control boys can do what they want.Be careful."Read full newsRead More

Tuesday's Market Minute The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell triple digits for the second straight session.The Nasdaq led losses as the tech-heavy index pushed further into correction territory.Shares of Facebook were down again after the company experienced outages in the U.S. and Europe.  U.S. stocks were hit with significant losses for the second straight session with all three major i...Read More

A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday November 20.Please click...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Tuesday November 20, with broad risk-off sentiment emerging across global commodity markets amid continued trade tensions and a fresh one-year low in oil futures.Both zinc and lead futures were the worst affected, falling by around 2% over the afternoon, to below their respective support levels at $2,600 p...Read More

The Comex copper price continued lower in in the US morning on Tuesday November 20, with the rising dollar pressuring the entire commodities sector.The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.25 cents to $2.7665 per lb."We continue to expect a strong rebound in copper prices by the end of 2018 principally because investors are likely to...Read More

Supply constraints continued to drive European ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide prices to new heights, with both markets reaching record highs while the Chinese export market remained dormant. Chinese export prices remain flat absent export activityEU FeV prices set new record heightsEU V2O5 market edges upward to new record highUS FeV bolstered despite thin spot trading ChinaChina's ferro-va...Read More

The London Metal Exchange is planning to launch a lithium contract in the second quarter of 2019 to meet growing demand from the electric vehicle industry, Fastmarkets learned during Asia Copper Week in Shanghai. The contract, announced as part of the exchange's Strategic Pathway in September 2017, will be settled against an index price, with Fastmarkets MB's lithium spot price index one of those...Read More

Supply constraints continued to drive European ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide prices to new heights, with both markets reaching record highs while the Chinese export market remained dormant. Chinese export prices remain flat absent export activityEU FeV prices set new record heightsEU V2O5 market edges upward to new record highUS FeV bolstered despite thin spot trading ChinaChina's ferro-va...Read More

Chrome ore and alloy prices continued to trend lower in China on Friday November 16 on thin market activities and lingering weak sentiment, while the European and US markets continued to suffer from increased seller competition amid subdued demand conditions. UG2, charge chrome prices soften on thin trading, bearish sentimentChinese domestic market holds flat amid inactivityKorean prices slide on...Read More

Vedanta unit Sterlite Copper intends to ship a portion of its copper concentrate inventories accrued before it declared force majeure in April, sources with knowledge of the situation told Fastmarkets. Sterlite has offered 15,000 tonnes of Cerro Verde copper concentrates for November or December shipment, several sources privy to the dealings said. The company's Tuticorin smelter was shut dow...Read More

Representatives from Chinese manganese alloy smelters will meet this week to discuss silico-manganese tender prices, market sources told Fastmarkets.The meeting is understood to be aimed at keeping the manganese market stable, market sources added. "We want to keep our prices stable so that the market is sustainable for everyone," a silico-manganese producer told Fastmarkets.Others noted that sili...Read More

The Tuesday Market Minute Global stocks slide, with tech shares leading the declines, as investors retreat from risk markets amid questions over the fate of U.S. China trade talks and persistent signals of slowing economic growth.Apple shares continue to slump, with German-listed units falling to the lowest level since July, amid multiple reports of tepid iPhone demand, dragging supply-chain sto...Read More

Turkish steel mills have continued to hold back from making deep-sea scrap purchases due to fear of product outflow from China, sources said on Tuesday November 20.Chinese rebar is widely expected by market participants to be offered in increasing amounts in the near term while its domestic market softens. This will soon affect prices all over the world, including Turkish scrap import prices,...Read More

The Comex copper price continued lower in in the US morning on Tuesday November 20, with the rising dollar pressuring the entire commodities sector.The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.25 cents to $2.7665 per lb."We continue to expect a strong rebound in copper prices by the end of 2018 principally because investors are likely to...Read More

Jittery stock markets and ongoing disappointment over United States/China trade developments continued to put either a cap on the base metals - the exception being tin that broke higher at the start of this week - or keep them under pressure, in the likes of nickel and aluminium.The three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were on divergent paths this morning, Tuesday November 2...Read More

The London Metal Exchange is planning to launch a lithium contract in the second quarter of 2019 to meet growing demand from the electric vehicle industry, Fastmarkets learned during Asia Copper Week in Shanghai. The contract, announced as part of the exchange's Strategic Pathway in September 2017, will be settled against an index price, with Fastmarkets MB's lithium spot price index one of those...Read More

Chinese buyers have been reluctant to commit to long-term contracts for cobalt raw materials for 2019 during this year's mating season, Fastmarkets has learned.Year-long or multi-year commitments are traditional, but Chinese buyers now intend to purchase cobalt raw materials, including concentrates and hydroxide, on a spot basis, because there is adequate spot supply and because their profit margi...Read More

The initial public offering (IPO) of shares in the newly created Livent Lithium will help the fledgling company to face the challenges of meeting global demand for lithium and to solidify its position as a major supplier to the fast-growing battery industry, according to chief executive officer Paul Graves.The acquisition by Livent's parent company, FMC, of chemicals giant DuPont set the course fo...Read More

Flat steel import prices in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have tumbled over the past seven days by $20-55 per tonne due to weak demand and lower offer and deal prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 20.UAEAbout 5,000 tonnes of hot-rolled coil (HRC) from Ukraine was booked at $520-530 per tonne cfr.Chinese material, meanwhile, was on offer to the UAE at $510-520 per...Read More