AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.4%)
AIRLINK 129.53 Decreased By ▼ -2.20 (-1.67%)
BOP 6.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.15%)
CNERGY 4.63 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.58%)
DCL 8.94 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.36%)
DFML 41.69 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (2.66%)
DGKC 83.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-0.37%)
FCCL 32.77 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.33%)
FFBL 75.47 Increased By ▲ 6.86 (10%)
FFL 11.47 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.06%)
HUBC 110.55 Decreased By ▼ -1.21 (-1.08%)
HUMNL 14.56 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (1.75%)
KEL 5.39 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (3.26%)
KOSM 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-6.46%)
MLCF 39.79 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (0.91%)
NBP 60.29 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
OGDC 199.66 Increased By ▲ 4.72 (2.42%)
PAEL 26.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.15%)
PIBTL 7.66 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.41%)
PPL 157.92 Increased By ▲ 2.15 (1.38%)
PRL 26.73 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.19%)
PTC 18.46 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.87%)
SEARL 82.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-0.7%)
TELE 8.31 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.97%)
TOMCL 34.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.12%)
TPLP 9.06 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (2.84%)
TREET 17.47 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (4.61%)
TRG 61.32 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-1.81%)
UNITY 27.43 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.04%)
WTL 1.38 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (7.81%)
BR100 10,407 Increased By 220 (2.16%)
BR30 31,713 Increased By 377.1 (1.2%)
KSE100 97,328 Increased By 1781.9 (1.86%)
KSE30 30,192 Increased By 614.4 (2.08%)

LONDON: Copper prices rose on Friday as disappointing US October jobs gain has firmed up chances of Federal Reserve interest-rate cut next week to weaken the dollar.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose 0.5% to $9,554.5 per metric ton as at 1722 GMT. The industrial metals prices were supported by a weaker dollar, which makes greenback priced metals cheaper for holders of foreign currencies.

The dollar erased early gains to trade lower after US nonfarm payrolls gains fell short of expectations amid disruptions from hurricanes and strikes by aerospace factory workers in October. A soft labour market made traders pricing about a 99% chance of a quarter-point interest-rate cut for US central bank meeting on Nov. 7, compared to 92% before.

A lower interest rate discourage foreign investments to pressure the dollar. Trading volumes in industrial metals overall remained thin with market taking a wait-and-see approach amid the uncertainty over the Nov. 5 presidential election, said CRU analyst Craig Lang. The election outcome is a determinant of tariff policies between US and top metals consumer China. Polls indicate a close race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The uncertainty pushed dollar/offshore yuan on Friday to a level not seen since August 2015.

The US election result could even affect the size of China’s stimulus to revive the fragile economy of the world’s biggest metals consumer. Beijing mulled issuance of over 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in extra debt, a fiscal package that would be further bolstered if Trump is elected. Whether the stimulus could feed into Chinese industrial sector remains a key question for metal investors.

China’s October manufacturing activity swung back to expansion for the first time in six months, with improvement in export orders close to the year-end.

For other metals, LME aluminium dropped 0.8% to $2,598 a ton and is the only base metal registering a decline on Friday. Producers selling forward to lock in higher prices were evident in aluminium, brokerage Marex said at a commentary.

Lead rose to a one-week high of $2,070.2 earlier. It last traded 0.7% higher at $2,034. Nickel increased 1.4% to $15,945, zinc advanced 1% to $3,059 and tin gained 2.1% at $31,840.

Comments

Comments are closed.