Non-ferrous metals prices move northwards

Non-ferrous metals prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was mostly on the higher side last Friday. The three-month futures contracts for nickel prices were up by 2% to $21,278/t, lead prices edged up by a modest 1.85% to $2,093/t. Copper prices witnessed a slight hike of 0.96% and reached $8,251/t. Zinc prices also increased by 0.8% to settle at $2,479/t.

Significantly, aluminium prices held steady at $2,283/t as global aluminium ingot inventories continued to fall rapidly, heightening the risk of an overseas short squeeze. As of May 18, the aluminium ingot social inventories in China's eight major markets reached 706,000 tonnes (t), marking a decline of 81,000 t compared to the previous week and 259,000 t compared to the same period last year. The inventories persistently followed a downward trajectory, maintaining a consistently low level.

Stock level

LME's stock level of all base metals witnessed fluctuations. Aluminium's stock in LME's registered warehouses was 555,200, fell by 0.24%, and zinc stocks stood at 46,975, dipped 1.1%. Meanwhile, nickel and lead stood stable at 39,174 and 33,925, respectively. In contrast, copper stocks were slight up by 1.6% to 91,975.

India's domestic market volatile

India's domestic aluminium scrap prices in market remained unchanged towards the closing of last week, on sluggish demand in local northern region markets. Tense prices stood firm at INR 162,000/t, utensil prices were at INR 174,000/t, both excluding (GST) and ex-Delhi.

Despite the announcement of a price hike for P1020 ingots by major players, trade activity was moderate.

Domestic copper armature scrap prices rose by 1.8% on 19 May to INR 682,000/t exy-Delhi while secondary rods prices also increased by 1.1%. An uptick in LME futures by 0.96% drove domestic market prices up. A positive development was seen in terms of finished copper buying inquiries. However, sellers were holding back offers amid expectations of a further price increase.

Oil, natural gas prices drop

Brent oil futures inched up by 0.4% to $74.88 per barrel. Similarly, crude oil WTI futures increased by 0.65% to $70.94 per barrel.

Prices of natural gas were recorded at $2.54/MMBtu at the time of publishing this insight. Prices were up 8.5% as against the last closing.

Dollar index

The dollar index, which gauges the value of the greenback in a basket of six different currencies, hovered at 103.11. The index moved up 0.42% against the last session.

The rupee was recorded at 82.83 against the dollar, depreciating 0.46 paise against the previous closing.