Thursday, 26 March 2015 01:55
LONDON: Copper prices slipped on Wednesday as some investors sold to lock in recent gains while nickel also fell after inventories hit an all-time peak. A retreat in the dollar has helped fuel gains in base metals over the past week with copper surging more than 10 percent trough-to-peak over the week to Tuesday.
“After the significant bounce we’ve seen over the past week, led by copper, it’s not completely surprising that base metals are coming off ever so slightly,” said Nic Brown, head of commodities research at Natixis in London.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange ended down 0.3 percent at $ 6,125 a tonne.
It ended the previous session little changed after stretching to $ 6,203.50 a tonne – its highest since Jan. 5. Traders say copper has entered a higher band of consolidation, underpinned by the 100-day moving average at $ 6,084.
The current dip is expected to be a temporary setback, however, with copper prices supported by less growth in output than expected, Brown said.
“The fall in copper prices has been affecting copper output faster than we thought it would. It was already happening in Q4 last year and we expect it to be a more significant drag on copper production in Q1.” One supply threat has been a drought that has blighted the world’s biggest copper producer Chile for several years, spurring the government to invest in desalination plants and reservoirs.
Losses on metals markets were also limited by the dollar, which fell further against a basket of currencies after weaker than expected US durable goods data for February weighed, and after a robust German business sentiment survey boosted the euro.
A stronger dollar makes dollar-priced metals costlier for European and other non-US investors.
Zinc was last bid down 0.2 percent at $ 2,081 a tonne while lead was last bid 0.3 percent lower at $ 1,845.
“Zinc and lead plunged to multi-month and multi-year lows recently though global supply is extremely tight.
We expect to see significantly higher prices of both metals by year’s end,” said Commerzbank in a note.
Nickel lost 1.9 percent to end at $ 13,680 a tonne after LME inventories rose to a record high of 433,980 tonnes.
Aluminium was last bid down 1 percent at $ 1,774 a tonne, even after top producer Rusal said it was considering shutting down more smelters.
Copyright Reuters, 2015
