Last Updated : March 19, 2010 11:10
Copper continues to trade range bound
By Leon Westgate Disunity amongst EU members over how to deal with a potential Greek bailout has seen the dollar strengthen this morning. Although the base metals have come under a bit of pressure, the softer tone in prices appears to be more a reaction to yesterday’s gains, rather than anything else.
While the dollar is having some impact, the overall reaction from the base metals complex to this morning’s currency moves has been pretty muted. Volumes remain thin across the board.
The shutdown at BHP Billion’s 65 ktpy capacity Kwinana nickel refinery does appear to be lending some support to prices, with reports suggesting the shutdown may last 2 weeks. The closure has been due to a shortage of hydrogen gas used in the refining process.
Some reports note that the company will use the forced downtime to carry out other maintenance work at the refinery, which suggests that, longer term, the full impact of the shutdown may be mitigated. Elsewhere, an 888 mt fall in on warrant stocks, following warrant cancellations in Europe and Asia has helped to shore up sentiment.
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Aluminium has shrugged off a large increase in LME aluminium stocks, with the metal trading sideways. On-warrant aluminium stocks climbed 70,950 mt today, the bulk of material (35,725 mt) entering European warehouses. There was a pretty decent geographical spread overall, with Trieste, Bilbao, Rotterdam, Vlissingen, Johor, Singapore, and Detroit all seeing big inflows.
Copper continues to remain range bound and lacking in direction. The red metal came under pressure initially on the back of the dollar and Chinese monetary tightening, however it quickly dug its heels in to trade back around $7,500 heading into the afternoon.
Meanwhile, steadily declining inventories continue to lend background support to prices, with this morning seeing on-warrant stocks fall 1,200 mt following a 1,000-mt increase in cancelled warrants in Asian warehouses.
The US CPI and Jobless data held few surprises; coming in more or less in-line with consensus expectations, Looking ahead, this afternoon also sees the release of the Philadelphia Fed and US Leading Indicators for February (expected up 0.1%). Meanwhile, of interest are reports that China is undertaking Yuan stress tests to gauge the effect of Yuan appreciation on various Chinese companies.
Courtesy: Standard Bank
MCX ALMOND 29 February 2012
contract was trading at
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