India Base Metals: Copper down on MCX, LME as stocks rise

Informist, Monday, Feb 26, 2024

By Sandeep Sinha

MUMBAI – Prices of copper fell on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India taking cues from the London Metal Exchange due to rising inventories at LME and Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses and concerns about demand from top consumer China. Copper stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouses rose for the eighth consecutive week to 181,323 tn as of Friday. The inventory at LME-accredited warehouses rose by 4,925 as of today.

The LME copper market is in contango as the cash to three-month contract traded at a premium of $58 per tn. A contango is a condition in which prices for cash delivery are lower than futures – signalling weak demand.

For further cues, investors will look at the release of US core personal consumption expenditure and the second estimate of US Oct-Dec GDP data later in the week.

ALUMINIUM prices rose as traders increased their long positions on the domestic exchange.

LEAD contracts traded marginally lower because market players raised their short positions on the MCX.

ZINC prices rose due to short-covering of positions by traders on the domestic bourse.

At 1900 IST, on the MCX, the March futures contract of:

–Aluminium was at 198.25 rupees a kg, up 0.4%

–Copper was at 728.50 rupees a kg, down 0.3%

–Lead was at 179.55 rupees a kg, down 0.1%

–Zinc was at 215.05 rupees a kg, up 0.4%

Outlook for the evening session on the MCX:

–Aluminium contract seen at 194.80-200.0 rupees

–Copper seen at 720.0-734.0 rupees

–Lead seen at 177.0-181.0 rupees

–Zinc seen at 211.0-217.0 rupees

End

US$1 = 82.89 rupees

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Ashish Shirke

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