Sunday 22.04. weekly report: All base metals prices closed lower in Friday

LME base metals prices closed lower after disappointing week

All base metals trading on the London Metal Exchange fell at the end of trading on Friday April 21 after a week in which some metals prices hit three-month lows.

Regardless of being the only base metal to see a price upsurge at Friday’s morning, up $28.50 per ton, copper prices dropped at the LME kerb.

Firstly, nickel and tin fell by over $100 per ton, while zinc dropped back below the $2,600 per ton barrier.

LME announced Matthew Chamberlain as its new CEO.

Secondly, steel prices could be in for a boost after positive macroeconomic news came from the USA.

“Yesterday (ref. to Thursday) President Trump ordered a trade probe against China and other exporters of cheap steel into the US. Trump also indicated plans to spend $200bn on an infrastructure development although the timing of this is still unclear,” Alastair Munro of Marex Spectron said.

Copper falls nevertheless earlier increase

Following, the three-month copper price rose by $1 from Thursday’s close to finish trading at $5,622 per ton in Friday. Copper stocks fell by 50 tons to 268,400 tons, with 11,025 tons freshly re-warranted. Indonesian workers at Freeport-McMoRan are said to be planning a month-long protest starting on May 1. The global refined copper market posted a surplus of 51,000 tons in January, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said in a monthly report on April 20. Chile’s Codelco suspended operations at a concentrator plant at its Salvador copper mine after a supervisor died in an accident. The facility produced 60,000 tons of copper in 2016, according to Reuters.

Declines across the board

The nickel price was starting to recover over the last days but fell $135 per ton at the kerb to $9,345 per ton. The three-month aluminium price fell by $10.50 to finish trading at $1,932.50 per ton. Inventories were down 14,925 tons to 1,687,875 tons. Nickel stocks increased by 5,208 tons to 380,946 tons.

The three-month zinc fell by $48, after a $10.50 decline during morning trading, to close trading for the week on $2,584 per ton. Zinc inventories fell 1,300 tons to 355,150 tons. “Data released by China’s NBS showed its domestic zinc production fell to 504,000 tons in March, the lowest level in a year as smelters conducted maintenance during the recent ore shortage,” ANZ Research said on Friday.

Lead prices were down $17 to $2,142 per ton. Stocks were down 500 tons to 167,175 tons. The three month tin price was indicated at $19,750/$19,795 per ton – an approximate $125 per ton decline on Thursday’s close price. Inventories for tin were unchanged at 3,195 ton for the second day in a row.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was down 9.14 to 99.98.
• The Brent crude oil spot price was down 1.85% to $52.02 per barrel.
• The UK FTSE 100 was down 3.99 to 7114.55.
• EU consumer confidence was -4 for April after being forecast at -5, while the CB leading index was 0.4% for March.
• Meanwhile in the USA, existing home sales in March hit 5.71 million, topping the forecast of 5.61 million. But the flash manufacturing PMI and flash services PMI for April both disappointed at 52.8 and 52.5, respectively.