LONDON: Aluminium fell for a fifth day on Wednesday and was down nearly 20 percent from its April peak as concerns over the impact of US sanctions on Russian producer United Company Rusal eased.
Prices of the metal, used in a variety of products from food cans to aeroplane parts, dropped sharply after the United States gave US customers of Rusal more time to comply with sanctions on Monday.
“If the sanctions had been placed on Rusal in full as seemed likely last week, it would have been very disruptive for global supply chains,” Capital Economics analyst Caroline Bain said. “There could have been a shortfall of aluminum in the world (excluding) China.”
“Now that the conditions of the sanctions have been eased and there is more time for the world to adapt to not using Russian metal, …prices have come off again.”
LME ALUMINIUM: Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange was 0.4 percent lower at $2,218 a tonne by 0950 GMT. At its low for the day of $2,191, it was down by nearly a fifth from the seven-year peak of $2,718 it hit in mid April.
INVENTORIES: On-warrant aluminium stocks in London Metal Exchange warehouses – those not earmarked for delivery and available to the market – rose 3,350 tonnes, exchange data showed on Wednesday, after five straight days of declines. Headline stocks fell 5,850 tonnes.
ALUMINIUM TECHNICALS: LME aluminium may test support at $2,152 a tonne, a break below which could cause a loss to the next support at $2,078, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said in a report.
RUSSIA: Russia’s En+ Group, owned by recently sanctioned businessman Oleg Deripaska, said its chief executive officer and its chief financial officer resigned on Tuesday, with replacements appointed to both posts.
ALNORTE: Norsk Hydro ASA has halted alumina output at two of seven production lines at its Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil, its CEO said on Wednesday.
FINANCIAL MARKETS: The dollar index bounced to its highest since mid-January on the back of a rally in US Treasury yields. European shares fell 1 percent.
NICKEL: Nickel was up 0.8 percent to $14,095 a tonne, trading higher for the first time in five days. It has fallen 8.4 percent from its April 19 peak of $16,690, a three-year high, as fears of sanctions spreading eased.
COPPER PRICES: Bellwether industrial metal copper was down 0.2 percent at $6,997 a tonne.
OTHER METALS: LME zinc was down 1 percent at $3,178.50 a tonne, while lead was 0.3 percent higher at $2,136 a tonne. Tin was flat at $21,110 a tonne.
Source: Brecorder
