Comex copper prices sank to a multi-week low in the US morning on Thursday December 6 with the recent equity market downturn suppressing the entire base metals group. The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled 4.30 cents to $2.7310 per lb. Earlier, the contract touched an intraday low of $2.7130, the weakest point since November 14. US e...Read More
RAPAPORT... A ring made entirely from lab-grown diamond sold for$256,250 at Sotheby's on Wednesday, beating its presale estimate. The ring doesn't exist yet and doesn't have a fixed caratweight, as Diamond Foundry, its manufacturer, will craft the piece to fit thewearer. It will contain no metal and is the creation of Apple chief design officer SirJony Ive and industrial designer Mark Newson....Read More
(IDEX Online) - 'Conservation', the first video in the Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F)'s new Real Stories, Real Diamonds, Real Impact campaign targeting Millennials, has garnered 11 million impressions in the first month alone, the organization said. The one-minute video, which appears on both the Diamonds Do Good website and on YouTube, garnered 7 million views of at least 30 seconds, an...Read More
RAPAPORT... A 24.31-carat diamond ring fetched $2.4 million at a Bonhams auction in London onWednesday. The step-cut, D-color, internally flawless piece sold for$98,194 per carat, beating its presale estimate of $1.7 million to $2.3million, the UK company said. "This magnificent gem was greatly admired during our previewsin London, New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong," said Emily Barber, UK...Read More
RAPAPORT... A Bulgari diamond ring surpassed its estimate at Christie's inNew York on Wednesday, bringing in more than $18 million. The cushion-cut, 8.08-carat, fancy-vivid-blue piece was the event'stop seller at $18.3 million, beating its presale estimate of $13 million to $18million. It completes a mixed week for colored-diamond sales after a 10.62-carat,fancy-vivid-blue diamond - estimated...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Thursday December 6.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were lower across the board during morning trading, with downward pressure across the complex stimulated by broad strength in the dollar index, which continues to trade in positive territory after last week's G20 summit.The three-month nickel price ha...Read More
RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has repaired a configuration bug on theorder pages of subsidiaries Kay and Jared that accidentally exposed the personalinformation of customers who purchased online. A Jared customer contacted Signet last month after noting hecould see other buyers' order information by slightly modifying the link in hisown confirmation email. The accessible data included names, billing...Read More
RAPAPORT... E-commerce giant eBay will expand its luxury-goods authenticationservice to more than 45,000 jewelry products on its platform, it said. Third-party authentication experts will verify the items,which it sources from some of the site's highest-rated vendors, the retail company saidMonday. The service, eBay Authenticate, will cover items including engagementrings, wedding bands, and loose...Read More
The arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Thursday December 6*Copper -$71.14 (-491 yuan) Aluminium -$459.20 (-3,169.28 yuan) Zinc -$73.28 (-505.75 yuan) Nickel $278.16 (1919.81 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More
RAPAPORT... Diamond advertising has well and truly departed fromtraditional styles, this year's holiday commercials suggest. Gone are the daysof the De Beers campaigns targeting men buying a diamond for his fianc?(C)e.The major retailers have taken a much more experimentalapproach, with Tiffany & Co. creating an eccentric video that featuresactress Zo?<< Kravitz, while Signet Jewelers' br...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were lower across the board during morning trading on Thursday December 6, with downward pressure across the complex stimulated by broad strength in the dollar index, which continues to trade in positive territory after last week's G20 summit. The three-month nickel price has fallen 1.6% and is now back below $11,000 per tonne after trading above the...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday December 5 pricing session in Asia. Key drivers: Japanese buyers lowered their bid prices after they received more offers from European suppliers who were offering in Japan on waning demand in their normal markets. The price of scrap - the...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were weaker on the morning of Thursday December 6, with the complex down by an average of 0.9%. Continued weakness in equities, bond yields and increased trade tensions between the United States and China seem to be weighing on sentiment.Three-month zinc and nickel prices led the declines with drops of 1.3% and 1.2% respectively, while th...Read More
Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday December 6. Base metals prices, bar those for zinc, on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly lower during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with lingering concerns surrounding the trade tensions between the United States and China causing prices to soften.Check Fastmarkets MB's...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Friday December 7.Base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange were collectively lower at the close of trading on Thursday December 6, with downward pressure emerging across global equity indices in addition to a sharp downturn in oil futures, which trickled through to metals. Read more in our live futures.Here are how prices looked...Read More
International Lithium (TSXV: ILC; US-OTC: ILHMF) could produce 10,000 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent per year over a 25 year mine life at its Mariana lithium brine project, according to a recent preliminary economic assessment. It could also produce 84,000 tonnes per year sulphate of potash.The project, located in Salta, Argentina, has an estimated US$192 million after tax net present value...Read More
Mining companies across the globe now consider the risk of losing their licence to operate as the biggest risk to their businesses in the next two years, a new study shows.According to the 11th annual EY survey of 250 executives, the topic was listed sixth in the list of the ten major risks facing mining and metals firm in 2019-2020. Other challenges listed by the participants were rising national...Read More
Turkish billet prices have continued to weaken in line with the falling scrap and rebar prices, the downturn in the Asian markets and the weak demand for the material, sources said on Thursday December 6.Suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region have lowered their offers to $445-455 per tonne cfr from $460-465 per tonne last week. Yet demand was still limited and no tra...Read More
Turkey's long steel export prices have continued to weaken due to a lack of demand and a downturn in Asian markets, sources said on Thursday December 6.Only a few rebar cargoes were heard selling to Europe at $475-480 per tonne fob on an actual weight basis."The demand is still very weak. I only heard a small cargo was...Read More
The Turkish domestic long-steel markets have continued to struggle with limited demand over the past week, sources said on Thursday December 6.Buyers expected prices to go down further and are holding back from purchases, market participants said. While the winter conditions were also said to be keeping buyers out of the market, Fastmarkets was...Read More