Base metals prices show negative trends

Base metals prices on all major exchanges showed negative trends in the last closing session on 4 January 2023.

Prices of non-ferrous metals dropped as rising coronavirus cases in top consumer China reinforced worries over demand that is already under pressure from weakening global industrial activity.

Three-months contract prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed lower yesterday. Aluminium fell by 1.9%, zinc fell by 0.3%, lead decreased by 0.5%, copper edged down by 0.8% and nickel fell by 4.3%.

SHFE copper fell 1.29%, aluminium lost 0.39%, lead dropped 0.7%, and zinc slid 0.79%.

MCX futures prices remained negative on the last trading day. Nickel was down 0.5% to INR 2,595/kg, lead moved down by 0.7% to INR 188/kg, copper down by 0.7% to INR 709.8/kg, aluminium was down 1.3% to INR 202.3/kg and zinc decreased by 0.1% to INR 268.7/kg.

Alcoa restarts aluminium smelting capacity

Alcoa Corporation announced recently that its Portland Aluminium joint venture restarted 35,000 metric tonnes per year (mtpy) of curtailed capacity at its aluminum smelter in the State of Victoria in Australia, as per reports.

USA job openings data for Nov'22

The number of job openings saw a slight change at 10.5 million on the last business day of November, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently. The rate was unchanged at 6.4% but was 0.9% points lower than its peak in March 2022, as per reports.

India

Aluminium scrap (of all grades except taint tabor) prices remained stable yesterday d-o-d. Buyers showed less interest amid a decrease in futures on LME and MCX.

Indian copper prices fell marginally d-o-d yesterday. Copper prices declined as buyers retreated after being active for past few days. However, prices were still on the higher side.

LME stock levels decrease

Base metals stocks at LME-registered warehouses decreased by up to 8.9% in the last session today. However, lead and copper stocks remained stable.

Oil prices down

Brent oil futures were down 4% to $78.8 per barrel while crude oil WTI futures were down by 3% to $73.78 per barrel at the time of publishing this report.

Dollar index

The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered at around 104.31 at the time of publishing this report, up 0.06% against the last session.

The rupee was recorded at 82.77 against the US dollar, appreciating 0.10 paise against the previous closing.