Monday, 23 March 2015 21:39
LONDON: Lead prices climbed on Monday on concern about potential shortages after a dramatic drop in available inventories while a weaker dollar helped to support other metals, with copper rising to its highest in more than two months.
London Metal Exchange (LME) data showed the proportion of available inventories tumbled to slightly more than 50 percent from about 95 percent.
“With such a large decrease, there’s going to be a definite shortage of nearby material,” one London trader said.
The drop in available stocks occurred after mass “cancellations” – when owners of metal give notification of impending shipment – of 98,350 tonnes in warehouses spread across a dozen locations worldwide.
“It’s quite amazing. I don’t know if it’s the biggest single percentage cancellation move on record, but it must be up there,” said David Wilson, an analyst at Citigroup in London.
“The coordination of this cancellation is pretty incredible. I don’t think I’ve seen one so widely spread among a whole load of different warehouses globally.”
Three-month lead was the top gainer on the LME, rising 2.5 percent to $ 1,827 a tonne by 1608 GMT, its highest in nearly two weeks after a jump of 4.2 percent on Friday.
Premiums — surcharges for immediate delivery of physical lead — were also expected to rise, Wilson said.
LME data showed that one party was holding up to 80 percent of inventories until the cancellation took place.
“They’ve played it perfectly,” the London trader said. “They’ve caught a market already short at the back end.”
LME data does not provide the identity of the dominant holder of the stocks.
Most other LME metals were also firmer as expectations that the United States will delay an interest rate rise dragged on the dollar.
A weaker dollar boosts the purchasing power of commodity buyers paying with other currencies, while expectations of cheaper capital for longer were also supporting the sector.
LME copper gained 1.5 percent to $ 6,134 a tonne, stretching 3.3 percent gains from the previous session. Prices earlier struck $ 6,141.50, their highest since Jan. 9.
It cracked the 100-day moving average for the first time since September, a chart signal that traders said sparked short-covering among China-based funds and may also encourage fresh long positions.
Aluminium edged up 0.1 percent to $ 1,798.50 a tonne and zinc climbed 1.2 percent to $ 2,088.
Nickel added 0.1 percent to $ 14,270 a tonne while tin gained 1.3 percent to $ 17,535.
Copyright Reuters, 2015
