Palladium prices hit a record high Thursday and at one point were within $30 an ounce of gold, Commerzbank says, although the spread has since widened again. Nevertheless, palladium’s recent gains may have been “excessive,” Commerzbank says. “We attribute the price surge - which happened very quickly - to buying on the futures market, as the trading volume yesterday was twi...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are solidly higher and setting new daily highs in early U.S. trading Friday, on safe-haven demand as U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward lower openings when the New York day session begins. The U.S. dollar index is also selling off and hitting its session low, further supporting buying interest in the precious metals markets. December gold futures were last up $9.60 a...Read More
Editor's Note: Welcome to Kitco's new Bitcoin Daily Technical Alert. Every trading day veteran Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff will provide you with a concise and easy-to-understand near-term technical brief on Bitcoin. Importantly, Jim will glean the short-term charts and technical studies, and then alert you to the signals he sees regarding upcoming potential bigger price moves or price tren...Read More
Like a gymnast, gold stuck a perfect landing as it tumbled from the $1,240 level, holding the $1,200 support level the last few days. The pattern for gold remains solid, although the selling before the landing was rather uncomfortable.Traders and investors look to the news for reasons to buy or sell when the simple truth is all the news plays out in the chart long before it ever hits the mainstrea...Read More
Zinc futures on the London Metal Exchange rallied 3% at the close on Thursday November 15, ending a weeklong downtrend and supported by a decade-low downdraft in total LME inventories.Across the entire base metals asset class, volumes traded on the exchange were moderately high, with the trading of zinc's 15,062 lots the most since Thursday August 16 and second on the day to copper's 16,465 lots."...Read More
Swiss multinational investment bank, UBS Group, has applied for Category II membership on the London Metal Exchange, according to a note released by the exchange on Thursday November 15. The LME currently has 32 Category II members and the Swiss bank's London subsidiary, UBS Ltd, is already a member. Last month, Chinese broker Nanhua Futures similarly took steps...Read More
[updating with detail and comment throughout]Jiangxi Copper and Antofagasta agreed terms on 2019 copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) at $80.80 per tonne/8.08 cents per lb on Thursday November 15, sources from both companies told Fastmarkets.The deal is in line with market expectations and is 1.8% lower than the benchmark of $82.25/8.225 cents agreed in 2018 between Freeport...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday November 14 pricing session in Europe. Key driversThe recent downward trend in the ferro-titanium price has created more losses in the European alloy market. The trend started on September 12, when the market was assessed at $5.80-6.05 per kg.Trading activity was slower this week, with many market participants at Fastmarkets MB' International Ferro-alloys conference in...Read More
Expansions in chrome capacity over the next five years will lead to a global oversupply in the short term, Fastmarkets learned at the 2018 International Chromium Development Association (ICDA) Conference in Baotou, China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on November 6-8. There will be an increasing oversupply in the chrome industry over the next five years though it is difficult to gauge whether...Read More
Planned investment by China in high-pressure acid-leaching (HPAL) projects for nickel mining will materialize, but the projected production timeframes are very likely to be pushed back, and development costs are liable to increase, market participants have told Fastmarkets."[The Chinese are] looking to take advantage of the expected growth [in nickel demand for battery uses]. All of us are skeptic...Read More
[updating with detail and comment throughout]Jiangxi Copper and Antofagasta agreed terms on 2019 copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) at $80.80 per tonne/8.08 cents per lb on Thursday November 15, sources from both companies told Fastmarkets.The deal is in line with market expectations and is 1.8% lower than the benchmark of $82.25/8.225 cents agreed in 2018 between Freeport...Read More
Liquidity in the Pacific alumina market picked up on Thursday November 15 with prices on a fob Australia basis hitting a fresh eight-month low. Fastmarkets MB's benchmark daily fob Australia index stands at $410.98 per tonne on Thursday, down from $423.33 per tonne the day before. The index is now at levels not seen since March 2018 before Hydro declared force majeure at the Alunorte refinery...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday November 14 pricing session in Europe. Key driversThe recent downward trend in the ferro-titanium price has created more losses in the European alloy market. The trend started on September 12, when the market was assessed at $5.80-6.05 per kg.Trading activity was slower this week, with many market participants at Fastmarkets MB' International Ferro-alloys conference in...Read More
The cobalt metal price in China edged lower mid-week, pressured by the overall bearish sentiment toward the cobalt market's outlook following an industry event last week.Fastmarkets assessed the Chinese cobalt metal price at 410,000-430,000 yuan per tonne ($23.10-24.22) per lb, China VAT-free, on Wednesday November 14, down 4.5% from 430,000-450,000 yuan per tonne previously. "Following the event...Read More
Turkish steel producers resumed their deep-sea scrap purchasing on Thursday November 15, following a downturn in prices.A steel producer in northern Turkey booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $335 per tonne cfr.Another steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a United States cargo, comprising 17,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $335 per tonne and 3,000...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday November 14 pricing session in Europe. Key driversThe recent downward trend in the ferro-titanium price has created more losses in the European alloy market. The trend started on September 12, when the market was assessed at $5.80-6.05 per kg.Trading activity was slower this week, with many market participants at Fastmarkets MB' International Ferro-alloys conference in...Read More
UK ferrous scrap prices for deliveries in November have been rolled over due to steady business and a small increase in European export prices to the key destination of Turkey, which meant there has been no support for changes to British domestic scrap prices, trade sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday November 14.UK suppliers had initially pushed for an increase of around ?5-10 ($6-13) per t...Read More
The Comex copper price moved higher on Thursday November 15 amid a broad-based increase due to a solid macroeconomic backdrop ahead of the end of year holiday season .The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped 4.20 to $2.7520 per lb."We continue to expect a strong rebound in copper prices by the end of 2018 principally because investor...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up across the board by an average of 0.7% on the morning of Thursday November 15. Zinc and nickel prices were up by the most with gains of 1.2% and 1.1% respectively, while copper was up by 0.8% at $6,149 per tonne. The others were up by between 0.2% for aluminium and 0.8% for lead. Volume has been below average with 4,583 lots trade...Read More
Planned investment by China in high-pressure acid-leaching (HPAL) projects for nickel mining will materialize, but the projected production timeframes are very likely to be pushed back, and development costs are liable to increase, market participants have told Fastmarkets."[The Chinese are] looking to take advantage of the expected growth [in nickel demand for battery uses]. All of us are skeptic...Read More