The price momentum or average gold price is $1,283, and the market closing above it, activated the S1 of $1,298 and S2 of $1,306.If we come back down below $1,299 after completion, you will probably be stopped out and go neutral.If it goes down below $1,283, after making it up to the targets at S1 and S2, it would activate B1 of $1,274 and B2 of $1,260. Looking Back We published a report on Seekin...Read More
Gold futures settled lower Monday after tallying gains in each of the last three trading sessions, with investors looking ahead to a busy week for Federal Reserve policy and key U.S. jobs data. Palladium, meanwhile, suffered its biggest one-day decline since March, as prices retreated in the wake of four consecutive sessions of gains. Gold for June delivery GCM9, -0.14% fell $7.30, or 0.6%, to se...Read More
Gold futures settled lower Monday after tallying gains in each of the last three trading sessions, with investors looking ahead to a busy week for Federal Reserve policy and key U.S. jobs data. Palladium, meanwhile, suffered its biggest one-day decline since March, as prices retreated in the wake of four consecutive sessions of gains. Gold for June delivery GCM9, -0.15% fell $7.30, or 0.6%, to se...Read More
Aluminium producer Rusal's sales of aluminium value-added products (VAP) were down 22.2% year on year in the first quarter of 2019 amid US sanctions and high premiums, it announced on April 30.Sales of value-added product, such as billet, foundry and slabs, reached 256,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2019, compared with 333,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2018. First-quarter sales were down...Read More
Vancouver-based Rockridge Resources reports drilling high-grade, near-surface copper mineralization at the Knife Lake property 50 km northwest of Sandy Bay. Rockridge has an option with Eagle Plains Resources to acquire 100% interest in the historic property.Drill hole KF19001 intersected net textured to fracture controlled sulphide mineralization between 7.5 to 40.6 metres, returning 33.1 metres...Read More
First Quantum Minerals of Vancouver has offered an update on progress at the Cobre Panama copper mine as it made 25 tonnes of copper during the first quarter of this year. The project is on track to deliver between 140,000 and 175,000 tonnes in 2019. About 80% of total output will occur in the second half of the year, as the mill ramps up to its annual capacity of 72 million tonnes by the end of t...Read More
The steel mills in Turkey have continued to book deep-sea cargoes for June deliveries, although prices were still weakening, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 30.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 22,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (90:10) at $306 per tonne, 13,000 tonnes of shredded at $309 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus...Read More
Industrial metal markets are taking a breather as they await tangible evidence that China's latest stimulus package is feeding through to a flagging manufacturing sector.April's purchasing managers indices, weaker than expected but still just in expansion territory, mean the collective guessing game continues.Copper imports almost matched last year's record pace, while China continues to soak up r...Read More
Chilean manufacturing production rose 1.3 percent in March compared to the previous year, government data showed on Tuesday, even as copper output declined in the world's top copper producer.The slight increase in manufacturing production was driven primarily by a year-on-year increase in the production of machinery and equipment, but was counterbalanced by a 3.5 percent drop in mining output, the...Read More
Glencore Plc cut its full-year copper-output goal by about 3% and lowered production targets for other commodities from nickel to oil, as the world's biggest metal trader deals with multiple problems across its operations. The shares fell.There was no mention of changes to the company's marketing-profits guidance, which it often updates in production reports.Key insightsGlencore's disappointing ou...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 30 that are worth another look.With LME Asia Week fast approaching, Fastmarkets MB took an in-depth look at one of the topics likely to dominate discussions at this year's event: What is keeping aluminium prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange elevated following the cut to China's value-added tax early in April?Brazil's p...Read More
Blister copper spot refining charges (RCs) in China were unchanged in April while the copper arbitrage window remained negative throughout the month, to discourage import interest, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday April 30.The cost to turn the intermediate product of 98-99% copper content into refined copper was stable at $160-170 per tonne on April 30, the same as at the end of March.Several bids wer...Read More
The premium paid for European nickel briquettes fell to its lowest level since July 11, 2017 on April 30, amid extremely weakened demand from the stainless steel sector for the material, while European off-warrant supply remains healthy and facilitates the decline.End-user stainless steel demand, which uses nickel and has a direct impact on its consumption, is not perceived as weak by the market,...Read More
Comex copper staged a modest increase on Tuesday April 30 morning in the United States amid a weakening dollar and market hopes that a US-China trade resolution is upcoming.The copper price for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange increased 1.10 cents to $2.9080 per lb. The red metal has been unable to set a clear price direction over the past few weeks, with a...Read More
Brazil's primary aluminium production totaled 147,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2019, falling by 24.7% compared with 195,100 tonnes in the first quarter of 2018, the country's association for the sector, Abal, said on Monday April 29.Output volumes are decreasing because the Albras smelter, located in the northern state of Par??, is using only half of its capacity following environmental issu...Read More
The European Commission (EC) will halt its anti-dumping investigation into imports of welded steel tubes, pipes and hollow profiles, whether of square or rectangular cross-section, originating from Macedonia, Russia and Turkey, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 30.The EC opened the case on September 28 last year after the defence committee of the Welded Steel Tubes Industry of...Read More
Turkey's biggest steel producer, Erdemir Group, has reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for the first three months of 2019 of TRY1.733 billion ($291.3 million*).This was up by 3.82% from TRY1.669 billion for the corresponding period in 2018.The group sold 1.888 million tonnes of flat steel products in January-March 2019, down by 2.53% from the 1.937 mil...Read More
The U.S. push to challenge China's dominance in the production and sale of electric vehicles has at least one weak link: Most of the raw materials needed to make the batteries are dug elsewhere.Both Chinese and US-based companies have invested heavily in lithium mining projects in Chile, Australia and Argentina, some of the world's top producing nations. But unlike the U.S., Chinese companies have...Read More
Prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China may not have room to move much higher because a further 31.05 million tonnes per year of capacity will come onstream in 2019, market sources in the country told Fastmarkets this week.At least 13 HRC production lines were scheduled for start-up in 2019, and two of these started operations last month at the Hebei Zongheng Iron & Steel Group in northern China...Read More
Domestic rebar producers in the UAE maintained their prices this week while the cost of rebar and billet imports edged up after buyers accepted higher offers due to low stock levels, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 30.Domestic rebar Local rebar producers in the UAE kept their prices unchanged for May production material, with demand expected to remain poor due to the Islamic holy month o...Read More