Non-ferrous metals prices show negative trends

Non-ferrous metals prices on all major exchanges remained negative in the last trading session on 15 February, 2023. On the other hand, the US dollar continued to rise.

Three-month contract prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) remained in negative terrain yesterday. Aluminum prices inched down by 1%, zinc was down 2.1%, lead fell by 2.1%, copper fell by 1%, while nickel fell by 1.2%.

MCX futures prices mostly opened at high levels today. Nickel opened 7% higher at INR 2,450/kg, lead rose by 0.08% at INR 184/kg, copper rose by 0.48% at INR 771.5/kg, aluminum fell by 0.17% at INR 211/kg, while zinc was up 0.37% to INR 269.8/kg.

Australia's unemployment rate increased in Jan

Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate unexpectedly increased to 3.7% in January 2023 from December's nearly five-decade low of 3.5% and above market estimates. This was the highest jobless rate since last May as the number of unemployed climbed by 21,900 to 523,200, as per reports.

India

India's domestic aluminium scrap prices edged lower d-o-d yesterday as market players showed limited interest due to falling futures and constant price reduction by the primary producers. Aluminium ingots ADC12 prices remained firm w-o-w at INR 200,000/t exw-Faridabad. In case of copper, market participants are still in wait-and-watch mode as LME copper futures are hovering between $8,870-$8,950/t over the past few days, sources informed.

Oil prices almost firm

Brent oil futures rose by 0.20% at $85.87 per barrel, while crude oil WTI futures remained stable at $79.19 per barrel.

Prices of natural gas were recorded at $2.472/MMBtu at the time of publishing this article, down 3.7% as against the last closing price.

Dollar index

The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered around 103.68 at the time of publishing this report, down 0.23% as against the last session.

The rupee was recorded at 82.64 against the US dollar, appreciating 0.20 paise against the previous closing.