Weekly round-up: Base metals prices show positive trends

Domestic base metals prices saw mostly positive trends this week. All base metals prices rose by up to 2.4% w-o-w whereas prices of zinc inched down to 1.1%.

All non-ferrous metals prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) edged up w-o-w. However, aluminium was marginally down by 0.5%. In fact, other metals' prices rose by up to 1.7%.

The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered at around 103.49, up slightly by 0.30 against last week.

US weekly jobless claims rise to 225,000

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits edged higher last week, indicating that the US job market remained tight. Meanwhile, initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 225,000 for the week ended 24 December, up from an unrevised level of 216,000 in the prior week.

China

The official NBS Manufacturing PMI was down to 47.0 in December 2022 from 48.0 in the previous month, pointing to the third straight month of drop, amid the rapid spread of Covid infections that hurt production following Beijing's abrupt relaxation of pandemic measures.

Price picture

• Aluminium prices marginally up
  
  

Domestic aluminium tense scrap prices rose slightly by 1.3% w-o-w at INR 151,000/t exy-Delhi.

• Copper prices trend up
  
  

Domestic copper armature scrap prices rose slightly by 0.3% to INR 636,000/t ($7,686/t) w-o-w exy-Delhi.

Prices of secondary wire rose slightly by 0.6% to INR 686,000/t w-o-w ($8,290/t), while primary wire rods prices edged and remained stable at INR 740,000/t ($8,942/t) exw-Delhi yesterday.

Meanwhile, copper prices were still on the higher side after being volatile from last week which pushed up local prices marginally. Morover, buyers actively procured material to stock. Meanwhile, a rise in Covid cases has made market participants cautious.

• Lead up marginally, zinc falls slightly
  
  

Domestic special high-grade (SHG) zinc ingots prices fell by 1.1% on low demand in the domestic market amid stable futures which was at INR 278,000/t ($3,359/t) exw-Delhi. In addition, domestic re-melted lead ingots and refined lead ingots prices rose slightly w-o-w.