Base Metals
2012-03-30 08:36:02
Base Metals
Worse-than-expected US Durable Goods Orders weighed on base metals prices yesterday afternoon, while further doom and
gloom from the UK and Europe this morning has seen the base metals come under further heavy selling pressure amid a
weaker euro and struggling equity markets.
As quarter-end approaches, it’s perhaps worth highlighting that there are a number of holidays coming up over the next week
or so in China and the UK. The Chinese QingMing (Tomb Sweeping day) festival will last from Monday through Wednesday,
leaving next Thursday the only normal trading day next week before London markets close for Good Friday and the start of the
Easter break. As such, tomorrow looks likely to be particularly volatile, albeit not necessarily that busy, as Chinese participants
wind down for the holiday and as Q1 finally draws to a close. Q2 on the other hand looks like starting very slowly indeed.
Aluminium is looking particularly weak at the moment, trading below its 100-day MA this morning and trading below its midFebruary lows of $2,150 heading into the afternoon. After a very quiet start, which saw turnover on LME Select trailing zinc by
around 2:1, aluminium turnover has increased dramatically during the morning session with turnover on LME Select now double that of zinc and only just lagging copper volumes heading towards the first LME Ring session.
The weakness in aluminium has been replicated with lead, with the heavy metal posting a similar magnitude price fall this
morning, albeit on what remains pretty disappointing turnover. News that Doe Run has declared force majeure on primary lead
production at its Herculaneum smelter has had little impact on prices so far. The facility suffered damage after a fire and is
likely to be out of action for 4-6 weeks. The smelter produced 122.5 kt of lead and alloys in 2010, implying a 10-15kt production loss. Whether this sees increased warrant cancellations in the US remains to be seen, however, with this morning’s
1,350 mt fall in on-warrant stocks due mainly to a 1,450 mt jump in cancelled warrants in Singapore.
| TIME | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | Tokyo | Ha Noi | HongKong | LonDon | NewYork |
| Prices By NTGOLD | ||
|---|---|---|
| We Sell | We Buy | |
| 37.5g ABC Luong Bar | ||
| 5,333.50 | 4,913.50 | |
| 1oz ABC Bullion Cast Bar | ||
| 4,426.80 | 4,026.80 | |
| 100g ABC Bullion Bar | ||
| 14,205.60 | 12,905.60 | |
| 1kg ABC Bullion Silver | ||
| 1,728.40 | 1,378.40 | |
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