London Metal Exchange (LME) prices ended mostly higher on Wednesday, led by aluminium prices jumping to a fresh 9-1/2 year peak, traders said. Traders said aluminium was buoyed by detailed changes to Chinese import and export tax laws. China is imposing a five percent tax on exports of unwrought primary aluminium and aluminium alloys from January 1, which may reduce availability in Western markets.
Inventory trends were also supportive, with LME stocks falling 1,550 tonnes, while the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) reported a drop in November producer stockpiles - down to 3.032 million tonnes from 3.058 million.
Aluminium closed at a new 9-1/2-year peak of $1,957 a tonne up from the $1,917 close last Friday.
Traders said the market had shrugged off dollar strength on Wednesday as overall fundamentals were still pointing towards long-term dollar weakness.
In early New York trading, the euro was weaker at $1.3587, about half a cent off its earlier record peak of $1.3646.
Copper was sharply higher after gains in COMEX on Tuesday, but stalled around $3,120/3,130. Last trade was at $3,125, from $3,075, and targeting the $3,175 October high.
Zinc rose to $1,243, against $1,208, aiming to re-challenge the recent peak of $1,245. Lead gained $11 to $960.
Nickel advanced to $15,205 from $14,700 after a 234-tonne inventory decline, but tin was down to $7,750 from $7,875, and looking to stabilise after last week's sell-off.
Comments
Comments are closed.