Commodities » Industrial Metals

Industrial metals (copper, aluminium, nickel, etc.) daily review (December 28, 2011)

Contributed by Nirmal Bang

By Nirmal Bang

MARKET ROUNDUP

Industrial metals ended lower in U.S. and Asian trading on Tuesday in thin year-end dealings as the London markets remained closed for Christmas.

IN FOCUS

- Japan's exports of copper cathode to China doubled in November from a year earlier, pushing its up total exports of refined copper during the month by 34 percent, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Tuesday.

- Japan's exports of refined zinc surged to 11,712 tonnes in November, up 64 percent from a year earlier, driven by a three-fold jump in exports to China, customs-cleared data showed on Tuesday.

- Workers at Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc's FCX.N mine in Indonesia halted on Tuesday their return to work after a three-month strike, pending the resolution of a labour dispute, senior union officials said.

- China's consumption of steel products is expected to reach 646 million tonnes in 2012, marginally higher than this year's level, the state-owned China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK

Industrial metals are trading lower on International bourses today. We expect prices to trade lower on concerns that the demand for the metal used in pipes and electrical wires will wane after a report showed weak house prices in the United States, the world's largest economy.