Spot gold remains above chart support that starts around $1,220 an ounce, says MKS (Switzerland) S.A. “Trade concerns between the U.S. and China remain elevated and the ongoing U.S.-Saudi tensions are likely to continue to underpin a bid tone for bullion over the near term,” MKS says. “Supportive price action around $1,210-$1,220 should restrict declines amid current global polit...Read More
Steel billet prices in major global markets resumed their downtrend or remained stable during the week from Monday October 15 to Friday October 19, with few deals concluded and importers generally staying out of the market.China was the exception, with its domestic prices strengthening amid lower inventory levels within the country.AsiaImport prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia were flat dur...Read More
Steel billet prices in major global markets resumed their downtrend or remained stable during the week from Monday October 15 to Friday October 19, with few deals concluded and importers generally staying out of the market.China was the exception, with its domestic prices strengthening amid lower inventory levels within the country.AsiaImport prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia were flat dur...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 12 points in pre-opening trade. Futures are responding to a 4.09% increase in the Shanghai Composite Index last night.The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at U.S.76.35 cents following release of August Canadian Wholesale Sales at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 0.2% versus a gain of 1.5% in July. Actua...Read More
China's ferrous futures ended the morning trading session lower on Friday October 19, with the rebar and coke contracts experiencing the steepest drops.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange January rebar: 4,093 yuan ($590) per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneJanuary hot rolled coil: 3,865 yuan per tonne, down 2 yuan per tonneDalian Commodity Exchange January iron ore: 516...Read More
Summary of Rio Tinto's production results for the three months ended September 30 (Rio Tinto share unless otherwise indicated, year-on-year change).Iron ore shipments (100% basis) 81.9 million tonnes, -5% Iron...Read More
China's ferrous futures trended upward during morning trading on Tuesday October 16, recovering from a drop during the Monday night session.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange January rebar: 4,157 yuan ($601) per tonne, up 31 yuan per tonneJanuary hot rolled coil: 3,975 yuan per tonne, up 49 yuan per tonneDalian Commodity Exchange January iron ore: 510.50 yuan per to...Read More
If Brexit - the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union on March 29, 2019 - isn't on your radar, it should be. With the annual London Metal Exchange Week now in full swing, the exchange, its members and their customers need to have contingency plans in place if they are expecting to be affected in any way by Brexit. And as with anything political, an element of brinkmanship will na...Read More
When the London Metal Exchange finished its 12-step warehouse reform package, it proved once more that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. It faced some inevitable criticism of the rules, in particular that the LME went too far in certain areas and should consider tweaking or rolling back some of its reforms. In particular, the focus of attention was on the load-in, load-out (LILO...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Base metal prices ended the trading week weakly on the London Metal Exchange, with aluminium, zinc and lead all down on the previous day.The three-month zinc price dropped by 2.1% to $2,626 per tonne at the LME 5pm close - this was the contract's first daily drop in five days.Lead closed at $1,992 per tonne and aluminium $2,003 per tonne, both down $10 from their Thursday closing levels.The LME's...Read More
A meeting in Brussels next week will discuss whether four chemical compounds irreplaceable in the production of lead batteries should be banned, effectively spelling the end for the technology in the region. The proposal for an in-effect ban is part of Reach, a European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals that came into force in 2007...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
The latest ferro-tungsten and ammonium paratungstate (APT) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe, Vietnam and China, with blue tungsten oxide (BTO) and yellow tungsten oxide (YTO) deals taken into consideration.To view the latest price quotations, follow the links below:China- APT, fob China- Ferro-tungsten, fob ChinaEurope- APT, cif Rotterdam- Ferro-tungsten, in-warehouse Rotterdam...Read More
A year of unprecedented copper smelter disruptions has put copper concentrate benchmark negotiations on the front foot, with miners and smelters closer than usual in bid and offered terms at the outset of discussions. Major outages at key smelters, including Sterlite Copper's Tuticorin, Glencore's Pasar and Codelco's Chuquicamata have pushed up spot treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Prices for grade 18/8 alloy steel scrap in the UK and Europe decreased in the week ended Friday October 19, largely because of weak demand.Market participants described an extremely slow alloy scrap market in general, with trading levels diminished both through low demand from stainless steel mills and also by limited supplies.Mills have been buying lower-than-normal quantities of alloy scrap in O...Read More
Prices for light iron scrap in the United Kingdom have been steady over the past week, extending a period of stability for the sixth consecutive week, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday October 19.The market has been steady in line with domestic consumer demand and has garnered further support from increases in export prices to key destinations such as Turkey, although prices in the European ma...Read More
The price of shredded ferrous scrap imported into India fell this week due to reduced trading because of a festival in the country as well as continued weakness in the rupee, sources told Fastmarkets MB.Fastmarkets MB's weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India moved down to $354.42 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on Friday October 19, from $358.92 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva one...Read More
The Comex copper price rebounded in the US morning on Friday October 19 despite weak growth in China, with potential further stimulus from the Chinese central bank expected. The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.70 cents to $2.7735 per lb. China's economic growth slowed more than expected in the third quarter of this year to the w...Read More