(Adds detail, updates sourcing)By Alasdair PalNEW DELHI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - India's government appointed a new chief economic adviser on Friday, naming a U.S.-trained professor who praised the country's shock decision to remove most of its banknotes from circulation.Krishnamurthy Subramanian, a professor from the Indian School of Business, will serve a three-year term in the country's finance minis...Read More

Investing.com - Crude prices were lower on Friday, as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) struggled to come up with an agreement on cutting oil production.West Texas Crude oil futures for January slumped 0.50% to $51.23 a barrel as of 4:54 AM ET (9:54 GMT), after falling nearly 3% on Thursday. Meanwhile Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., di...Read More

Investing.com - Gold prices rose on Friday, on track for the highest weekly gain since August as lower-than-expected jobs data weighed on the U.S. dollar.Comex gold futures for February delivery jumped 0.62% to $1,251.35 a troy ounce as of 11:26 AM ET (16:26 GMT).Disappointing jobs data pushed the U.S. dollar lower, which helped boost demand for gold.Nonfarm payrolls rose by 155,000 in November, w...Read More

(Updates to add PIX)NEW DELHI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - India's environmental court said it will resume hearing Vedanta Ltd's VDAN.NS case on Monday to decide whether to re-open the company's copper smelter, which was closed earlier this year after 13 people died when police fired on protesters.Last week, a panel of experts set up by India's National Green Tribunal, informally known as the environmental...Read More

NEW DELHI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - India's environmental court said it will resume hearing Vedanta Ltd's VDAN.NS case on Monday to decide whether to re-open the company's copper smelter, which was closed earlier this year after 13 people died when police fired on protesters.Last week, a panel of experts set up by India's National Green Tribunal, informally known as the environmental court, said authorit...Read More

By Yuka ObayashiTOKYO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Pan Pacific Copper (PPC), Japan's top copper smelter, expects the price of the industrial metal to rise toward $7,000 a tonne in 2019, from about $6,168 now, backed by firm global demand and tighter supply, its executive said.PPC, which is also a miner controlled by JXTG Holdings 5020.T , expects global consumption and supply of refined copper to each incre...Read More

BENGALURU, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose slightly on Friday and were headed for their best week in 15, as the dollar weakened following a decline in U.S. Treasury yields, while investors awaited U.S. nonfarm payroll data for clues about the health of the world's top economy.* Spot gold XAU= was up 0.1 percent at $1,239.24 per ounce, as of 0125 GMT, having hit a near five-month peak at $1,244....Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Friday December 7, supported by an uptick in equity indices while a softer US dollar index helped most three-month prices reverse Thursday's losses.Despite low volumes in LME trading, with aluminium's 11,723 lots topping the complex, strong afternoon trading resulted in intraday highs for aluminium,...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices were rangebound on Friday December 7 with low-grade material trading more actively than high grades.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $66.51 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.08 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $65.78 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.08 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $70.32 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $0.19 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium In...Read More

The lull in the seaborne coking coal market was broken on Friday December 7, with two transactions taking place during the day. A premium mid-vol hard coking coal changed hands at $220 per tonne fob Australia while a similar cargo in the same category traded at $206 per tonne cfr China, sources told Fastmarkets. Both cargoes are loading in January.Premium hard coking coal cargoes for Jan...Read More

An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More

Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday December 7.China  The domestic ferro-chrome spot price slid after some sellers lowered prices to book sales and generate cash before year-end, but buying interest from China's domestic stainless steel mills was thin.  The imported charge chrome market was quiet. Some sellers had just compl...Read More

The United States Treasury must maintain its sanctions on companies associated with Oleg Deripaska until he relinquishes control of both EN+ and Rusal and receives no benefit from them, a senior US senator said. Robert Menendez, a member of the Democratic Party and the senior US senator from New Jersey, said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that efforts to remove sanctions without...Read More

Fastmarkets rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metals markets this week.Base metalsEuropean lead producer Recylex has opened talks with the debtors of its Weser Metall division after leveraged investments at the smelter there failed to result in expected production gains.Refining charges (RC) for blister copper imported into China dropped for the fifth consecutive mon...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More

Refining charges (RC) for blister copper imported into China dropped for the fifth consecutive month amid uncertainty over overseas supply and lower spot interest during annual negotiations.November's RC for 98-99% blister copper stood at $160-180 per tonne, with deals and offers reported within the range, Fastmarkets assessed. This compares with $170-185 per tonne a month earlier. Lackluster spot...Read More

The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday December 7. Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher during morning trading, with copper topping complex gains amid a weaker dollar and resurgent trade tensions between the United States and China. Climbing just under 2% over the morning, copper...Read More

European lead producer Recylex has opened talks with the debtors of its Weser Metall division after leveraged investments at the smelter there failed to result in expected production gains. "The group anticipates that its German perimeter will not be able to reach its financial targets at December 31, 2018," the company said on Wednesday December 5. Weser-Metall GmBH, a wholly-owned German divisio...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher during morning trading on Friday December 7, with copper topping complex gain amid a weaker dollar and resurgent trade tensions between the United States and China. Climbing just under 2% over the morning, copper futures made an approach back toward $6,200 per tonne after a sharp sell-off on Thursday afternoon resulted in the metal...Read More

Fastmarkets MB reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market during the week ended Friday December 7.Raw MaterialsIron ore producer Vale will use a 65% Fe iron ore index to price its pellets next year, moving away from using a 62% Fe iron ore index as the base price for such cargoes, executive director Peter Poppinga said.The world's largest iron ore miner also hailed the launch of...Read More