(Kitco News) - Gold continues to struggle against the backdrop of easing geopolitical tensions and the strength in the dollar. The European Central Bank announced last week that rates would remain unchanged, which initiated further capital flows into the dollar, as yield differentials widened between the U.S. and Europe. The euro has been very resilient at the 1.20 euro/dollar level and a break be...Read More
Gold has fallen back below $1,320 per ounce at the start of a new trading week. “One factor weighing on its price remains the firm U.S. dollar,” Commerzbank says. “The signs of detente in the North Korean conflict are also contributing to the lack of solid demand for gold as a safe haven at present. Following the historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South...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
Gold bounced on Friday, which was expected, and today it has given back all of Friday's gains. This action is no surprise as gold hovers near the recent lows. The $1,310 price is the key level as to whether gold is going to break down or find support. After breaking out a couple of weeks ago, silver finds itself in a similar situation to gold although a little stronger. Silver has violated support...Read More
Steel billet prices in most global markets either held steady or continued to weaken during the week from Monday April 23 to Friday April 27 after global trading activity ebbed away amid soft demand.But prices for long steel products in China and Southeast Asia edged up following China's slight recovery in the early part of the week.ChinaChinese domestic billet prices lost their upward momentum on...Read More
Steel billet prices in most global markets either held steady or continued to weaken during the week from Monday April 23 to Friday April 27 after global trading activity ebbed away amid soft demand.But prices for long steel products in China and Southeast Asia edged up following China's slight recovery in the early part of the week.ChinaChinese domestic billet prices lost their upward momentum on...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Monday April 30, with nickel dropping 1.5% from Friday. Nickel recorded a high-low range of $270, reaching a high of $13,940 per tonne during morning trading. With consolidation now firmly in place, nickel's three-month price is continuing to slide lower below the $14,000 per tonne support level. Despite this, sentiment...Read More
Net substitution of copper in 2017 fell for the sixth year in a row to 225,000 tonnes, down from 245,000 tonnes the previous year, according to figures released by the International Copper Association (ICA) on Monday April 30. Findings of the 2018 Global Copper Substitution survey, conducted by specialist consultancy MetalsPlus, reveal that total substitution accounted for 0.8% of the market last...Read More
Comex copper prices bounced-back from a multi-week low on Monday April 30 morning in the US, with investors preventing another wave of selling despite the dollar climbing once again.Copper for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up 1.15 cents or 0.4% to $3.0810 per lb. On Friday, the contract fell to its lowest point since April 6 on a bout of technical...Read More
Softening demand and delayed tenders from Chinese stainless steel mills weighed on prices and activity for the country's ferro-chrome and chrome ore markets. Strong imports of chrome ore into China added to bearishness Falling ferro-chrome prices weigh on charge chrome and UG2 Stability for South Korean and Japanese markets Trades show drop in European ferro-chrome US prices firm slightly on limit...Read More
The Chinese ferro-silicon market has rebounded in the week to Friday April 27, ending a steady run of losses since early March, because of supply worries and renewed buying from traders; prices in Europe and the US have gone the other way, however, due to slack demand for alloy on a prompt basis. China pares losses, eyes more gains as China futures jumps Europe, US suppliers cut offer prices...Read More
Israeli businessman and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) mining magnate Dan Gertler is suing former partner Glencore for just shy of $3 billion in unpaid royalties, Glencore said late on Friday April 27.Gertler's Ventora Development Sasu alleges Glencore DRC subsidiaries Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Co (KCC) owe approximately $695 million and $2.28 billion respectively in royalties that...Read More
Spot demand for cobalt slowed in late April while availability of the material increased, leaving metal prices to move only slightly higher at the end of the month.Metal Bulletin's benchmark low-grade cobalt assessment closed the week at $43.70-44.45 per lb, in-warehouse, on Friday April 27, stable with the midweek assessment, and up from $43.55-44.45 per lb at the end of the previous week. Prices...Read More
Sluggish demand continued to put pressure on the antimony market in the week to Friday April 27, with little spot business taking place in Europe and China. Metal Bulletin assessed the MMTA standard grade II antimony, in-warehouse Rotterdam price at $8,150-8,300 per tonne on Friday, unchanged from the mid-week assessment when prices had also stayed stable. The trioxide grade antimony pri...Read More
Turkish steel producers booked more deep-sea scrap for May at the end of last week, and prices continued to inch upward in trades on Monday April 30.A steel producer in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $352 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $362 per tonne cfr.Another steel mill in the same region booked a Canadian cargo, comprisin...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices have gone up in line with imported scrap prices while ship scrap prices have remained stable over the past week, sources said on Monday April 30.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle scrap (DKP grade) in Turkey was TRY1,370-1,500 ($339-372) per tonne delivered, narrowing upward from last week's TRY1,270-1,500 per tonne.This...Read More
Comex copper prices bounced-back from a multi-week low on Monday April 30 morning in the US, with investors preventing another wave of selling despite the dollar climbing once again.Copper for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up 1.15 cents or 0.4% to $3.0810 per lb. On Friday, the contract fell to its lowest point since April 6 on a bout of technical...Read More
Spot demand for cobalt slowed in late April while availability of the material increased, leaving metal prices to move only slightly higher at the end of the month.Metal Bulletin's benchmark low-grade cobalt assessment closed the week at $43.70-44.45 per lb, in-warehouse, on Friday April 27, stable with the midweek assessment, and up from $43.55-44.45 per lb at the end of the previous week. Prices...Read More
Import prices for re-rolling-grade hot-rolled coil sold into Vietnam were stable over the past week amid limited trading activity.Metal Bulletin's assessment of HRC import prices in Southeast Asia - which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm SAE1006 HRC and equivalent grades sold into Vietnam - was $590-605 per tonne cfr for the week ended Monday April 30, stable from a week earlier.Market sentiment was...Read More
Turkey's biggest steel producer, Erdemir Group, sold 1.937 million tonnes of flat steel products in January-March 2018, up by 9.19% from the 1.774 million tonnes sold in the corresponding period of 2017, the group said last week.The group reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for January-March 2018 of TRY1.67 billion ($411.91 million*). This was up by 25....Read More