Base metals prices show downward trends

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) verged on negative terrain during closing on the last trading day, except aluminium which showed upward movement on d-o-d basis.

Prices showed negative movement as the US dollar hovered around high levels.

A rising dollar pressures commodities prices by making them more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Global scenarios

In August, the European new car market finally returned to growth (+4.4%), bringing an end to thirteen months of consecutive decline. However - with 650,305 units registered - this result remains far below pre-pandemic levels. All the key EU markets positively contributed to the region's growth, with solid gains seen in Italy (+9.9%), Spain (+9.1%), France (+3.8%) and Germany (+3.0%).

Eight months into 2022,overall volumes contracted by 11.9% to reach nearly 6 million new passenger cars sold. Despite the recent improvement, earlier declines weigh on the cumulative performance. As a result, the four key markets have all faced losses so far this year: Italy (-18.4%), France (-13.8%), Germany (-9.8%) and Spain (-9.4%).

Base metals market performance - 15 September

• SHFE copper slid 0.32%, aluminium rose 1.87%, lead fell 0.2%, and zinc lost 0.08%.
  
  
• Three-month copper on the LME was down 0.95%, nickel fell 4.50%, aluminum was up 1.63%, zinc decreased by 1.33%, and lead was down by 2.34%.
  
  
• MCX aluminium up by 1.6%, nickel increased 2.1%, lead was down 0.8%, copper was marginally down 0.5% and zinc fell by 1.2%.
  
  

Stock levels down

Stocks at LME-registered warehouses were mostly down d-o-d on the last session by up to 2.10%. However, copper and aluminum stocks increased by up to 1.17% since yesterday.

Oil prices rise

Brent oil futures, on the other hand, were up by 2% at $91.44 per barrel and crude oil WTI futures rose marginally by 0.68% at $85 per barrel at the time of reporting.

Currency exchange

The Indian rupee was trading at 79.83, depreciating 0.24 paise against the greenback at the time of reporting.

The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered at around 109.92, up marginally by 0.16% against the last session.