Non-ferrous metals prices move up except copper

Non-ferrous metals prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) witnessed an uptrend, except copper. The three-month futures contracts for aluminium inched up 0.4% to $2,219/t, nickel up by 2.1% to $21,417/t, zinc rose by 3.3% to $2,396/t and lead gained by 0.9% to $2,044/t. However, copper prices dropped by 0.55% to $8,293/t.

Consequently, the market closed yesterday with all base metals witnessing a drop of 1.44%.

COMEX market

Copper prices on the Commodity Exchange market (COMEX) fell 0.3% to $8,249/t d-o-d in the previous trading day.

Major global happenings

Canada: Bank of Canada surprises with rate hike
The Bank of Canada surprised markets by raising its key interest rate by 25 basis points, ending a three-month pause on increases. The move reflects the central bank's concerns about persistent excess demand and rising inflation. The rate hike brings the overnight rate to 4.75%, the highest level since May 2001.

The decision was driven by stronger-than-expected economic indicators, including robust GDP growth, increased housing market activity, and a tight labour market. The move suggests that further rate hikes are likely, with markets anticipating another increase in July and further tightening in September.

Japan: GDP exceeds expectations, grows 2.7%
Japan's economy experienced robust growth in the first quarter of the year, with its GDP expanding at an annualised rate of 2.7%. This surpassed the initial projection of 1.6% growth and the median forecast of economists, which expected a 1.9% rise. The positive growth was primarily driven by a boost in domestic spending and restocking activities by companies, which helped counterbalance the adverse effects of weakened global demand on the country's exports, latest reports showed.

India: Non-ferrous scrap market

ADC12 prices remain unchanged w-o-w
Domestic aluminium alloy ingot ADC12 prices remained stable w-o-w. The market experienced a notable decline in transaction volumes owing to sluggish demand, thereby reinforcing the consistent trend in prices. Similarly, India's domestic aluminium scrap prices continued to remain rangebound d-o-d.

Domestic copper prices dip
India's domestic copper armature scrap prices edged down by 1.1% d-o-d. Despite rise in futures in yesterday's session, the local scrap market experienced a slight price decline as buyers slowed down procurement after making active purchases last week. Sellers, however, were attempting to push prices up.

Oil, natural gas prices dip
Brent oil futures as of today inched down by 0.10% to $76.87 per barrel. Similarly, crude oil WTI futures also dropped marginally by 0.08% to $72.47 per barrel.
Prices of natural gas were recorded at $2.316/MMBtu at the time of publishing this insight, down 0.56% as against the last closing.

Dollar index
The dollar index, which gauges value of the greenback in a basket of six different currencies, hovered at 103.96. The index dipped 0.13% against the last session.
The rupee was recorded at 82.57 against the dollar, depreciating marginally by 0.07% against the last closing.