Base metals prices edged lower in thin volumes during London Metal Exchange premarket trade Wednesday. "They're all drifting lower, partly on a lack of interest. The dollar is improving a bit and they're testing a bit on the downside, but there's very little going on," said a trader with one LME ring dealer. "There's nothing dramatic going on. It's a typical summer period -- there's very little interest, it's just down to the people who want to play it," he said. "We've been here before. They'll have to a go a bit lower to activate some sell-stops and nervous liquidation." Aluminium prices eased lower in early trade, with three-months aluminium bid at $3,017/mt at 0910 GMT, down $13 from Tuesday's evening kerb close. Prices have retreated steadily from record peaks of $3,380/mt earlier this month, and the move lower has seen aluminium consumers in Japan and South Korea breathe easier this week, local market sources said.
Sources said consumers, who had kept quiet for two weeks, were back this week fixing prices for their aluminium purchases. "Consumers had waited enough, some could not wait any longer for LME prices to come down further," said a Japanese trader. Some consumers were still wary of the dollar firming against the yen this week to Yen 107, from Yen 104 last Wednesday, but they decided to fix prices this week nevertheless, the trader added. Japan is in the midst of the peak summer aluminium consumption season. Copper dipped $25 to be bid at $8,105/mt at 0910 GMT, while lead was off $14 at $2,126/mt as the market retreated from overnight highs around $2,195/mt. Zinc saw a higher turnover than copper on LME Select as the market bucked the declining trend elsewhere to edge up $20 by 0910 GMT, bid at $1,865/mt. Nickel slipped $70 to $20,430/mt, while tin was off $100 at $23,350/mt. World tin consumption showed a slight increase in the first five months of 2008, ITRI said Wednesday.
Quoting preliminary statistics released by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics, ITRI said that global refined tin consumption is estimated to have increased by 1.1% to 147,900 mt in January-May compared to the same period of 2007. The WBMS data shows that growth in Asia has been partly offset by declines in apparent consumption in the USA and Europe. Chinese demand rose by 11.2% and Japanese consumption rose by 5.8% compared with the depressed 2007 total. However US consumption is estimated to have fallen by 24.1%, while EU27 demand declined by 8.1%, ITRI said. Standard aluminium alloy edged up $5 to be bid at $2,585/mt, while there were no bids for North American alloy as of 0910 GMT on LME Select.
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What's Moving the Metals Market-updated
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Posted - 07/24/2008 : 02:21:56
