Commodities » Industrial Metals

Industrial metals (copper, aluminium, nickel, etc.) daily review (August 31, 2010)

Contributed by Nirmal Bang

By Nirmal Bang

MARKET ROUNDUP

U.S. industrial metals futures rallied on Monday on follow-through buying from last week's gains, advancing to a high last seen in early May that triggered some short-cover buying.

IN FOCUS

-Brazilian steelmakers Gerdau SA, Votorantim Siderurgia SA and ArcelorMittal Brasil SA have stepped up imports of steel scrap to use in their furnaces in a move to drive local scrap prices lower, Brazil's scrap institute Inesfa said late last week.

-Chilean copper output rose 6.3% in July  to 454,178 metric tons from the 427,308 tons produced in July 2009, the government statistics agency said Monday.

-Canada's Capstone Mining Corp said it saw a 44 percent increase in estimates for contained copper at four undeveloped deposits at its Minto mine in Yukon.

-Singapore Exchange Ltd. said Tuesday that it plans to introduce metals futures contracts following a partnership deal it struck with the London Metal Exchange. The Singapore Exchange plans to launch standard, cash-settled copper, primary aluminum, zinc and nickel futures contracts based on settlement prices from the London Metal Exchange, it said in a statement, without indicating any timeline.

-Chile, the world's No. 1 copper producer, said on Monday its output of the red metal rose 6.3 percent to 454,178 tonnes in July from the same month a year earlier.

-China's steel mills produced 1.711 million tonnes of crude steel per day in the middle 10 days of August, little changed from the previous 10 days, data from the China Iron & Steel Association showed on Monday.

-Rio Tinto on Monday signaled it was pushing ahead with its expansion plans in iron ore while it awaits competition authority clearance to form a partnership with rival BHP Billiton in Australia.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

Industrial metals prices are trading down on LME. We may see some profit taking during the day. We expect base metals prices to take cues from manufacturing PMI data due to be release tomorrow from China. Expectations for the same are good. Buying at dips is recommended today.