Commodities » Industrial Metals

Industrial metals (copper, aluminium, nickel, etc.) daily review (December 09, 2009)

Contributed by Nirmal Bang

By Nirmal Bang

MARKET ROUNDUP

Industrial metals ended lower on Tuesday as jittery investors retreated from commodities and other riskier assets and sought safety in the dollar after ratings agency Fitch cut Greece's credit rating. Nickel and Aluminum traded firm in last trading session while Zinc and Lead paired maximum losses.

IN FOCUS

- Investor confidence in Dubai took a fresh knock as its leaders dithered over a rescue for debt-laden company Dubai World and ratings agency Moody's slapped a downgrade on government-related debt.

- Japan's economy grew 0.3 percent in the third quarter, revised government data showed on Wednesday, slower than an initial reading of 1.2 percent growth due to weaker corporate spending.

- Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals will buy BHP Billiton's closed Ravensthorpe nickel mine for $340 million, paving the way to revive  production that could add nearly 3 percent to world supply.

- Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc said on Tuesday that a strike at its Tenke Fungurume copper and cobalt mine in Democratic Congo has not affected production.

- Stocks of copper in LME warehouse rose 6,475 tonnes to 452,550 tonnes, a gain of about 75 percent since the middle of July and the highest since April.

- Arava Mines, a unit of Mexican steel firm Altos Hornos de Mexico SA, has been persuaded to resume copper extraction in southern Israel by a 140 million shekel ($37 million) government grant.

- China's November imports of unwrought copper and semi-finished copper products are expected to be flat, or fall slightly from the previous month, limited by strong LME prices and abundant domestic supplies.

- Workers at Chile state copper giant Codelco's massive Chuquicamata mine said on Monday they will halt overtime work after walking out of wage talks at the weekend, a move unlikely to hit output at the world's No.1 copper miner but that signals tough negotiations.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

Industrial metals are expected to trade sideways for the, with exception of Nickel and Aluminum as we expect them to trade firm for the day. Any major upside in dollar may infuse further sell off in industrial metals as well.