AGL 37.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.68%)
AIRLINK 124.10 Increased By ▲ 2.59 (2.13%)
BOP 5.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-3.08%)
CNERGY 3.75 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DCL 8.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.79%)
DFML 40.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.41 (-1%)
DGKC 87.10 Increased By ▲ 2.50 (2.96%)
FCCL 33.98 Increased By ▲ 1.28 (3.91%)
FFBL 66.01 Increased By ▲ 0.51 (0.78%)
FFL 10.20 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.49%)
HUBC 104.45 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (0.63%)
HUMNL 13.45 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (1.51%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (7.9%)
KOSM 6.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-3.53%)
MLCF 38.84 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (3.57%)
NBP 60.35 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.17%)
OGDC 179.65 Increased By ▲ 7.40 (4.3%)
PAEL 24.97 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (0.69%)
PIBTL 5.71 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.18%)
PPL 153.00 Increased By ▲ 11.31 (7.98%)
PRL 22.79 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.31%)
PTC 14.91 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (1.15%)
SEARL 66.85 Increased By ▲ 2.29 (3.55%)
TELE 7.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-1.82%)
TOMCL 35.70 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (0.56%)
TPLP 7.32 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.41%)
TREET 13.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-1.48%)
TRG 50.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.80 (-1.55%)
UNITY 26.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.75%)
WTL 1.23 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.82%)
BR100 9,717 Increased By 233.5 (2.46%)
BR30 29,237 Increased By 866.2 (3.05%)
KSE100 90,860 Increased By 1893.1 (2.13%)
KSE30 28,458 Increased By 630.4 (2.27%)

Copper slipped on Monday alongside Chinese equities on news the country's manufacturing sector shrank at the fastest in more than three years, reinforcing fears of weaker demand in the top consumer of industrial metals. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange ended down $4,560 a tonne from $4,561 at the close on Friday. The metal used in power and construction earlier touched a session low of $4,496.50.
China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.4 in January from 49.7 in December. It is the weakest reading since August 2012 and marks the sixth consecutive month of contraction. The Shanghai Composite Index eased 1.8 percent, while the CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen lost 1.5 percent.
"After the Chinese PMI data it's not surprising to see copper and other industrial metals and China equities under pressure," said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg. "The market is very much driven by sentiment at the moment, but we are likely to see more supply cuts this year, many mines are operating at unprofitable levels."
Weinberg also sees as a positive China's imports of refined copper surging 34.4 percent in December from a year ago to a record 423,181 tonnes. But others doubt demand is stronger and instead suggest fears of further yuan devaluations have convinced Chinese consumers and traders to stockpile the metal.
A weaker yuan makes commodities priced in dollars more expensive for local Chinese firms. China's week-long Lunar New Year holiday which starts on February 8 is expected to subdue activity in metals markets. Industrial metals also came under pressure after data from the Institute for Supply Management said its index of US factory activity showed a fourth straight month of contraction, traders said. Three-month aluminium was untraded at the close, but bid up at $1,521, zinc traded up 1.5 percent to $1,648 and lead gained 0.8 percent to $1,732 a tonne.
Tin was down 0.5 percent at $14,800 a tonne. The soldering metal is expected to come under further pressure after China's largest tin producer, Yunnan Tin, said the government had not yet decided on a plan to stockpile tin. Nickel fell 2.3 percent to $8,460 a tonne.
Traders said Russia's Norilsk Nickel producing more of the stainless steel ingredient was weighing on prices. "During times of commodity price weakness it is typical that mining companies increase production in order to lower unit costs," Investec analysts said in a note. "Such behaviour serves to exacerbate the oversupply, thus delaying any recovery in metal prices. We are now in the "dog eat dog" phase where only fittest will survive."

Copyright Reuters, 2016

Comments

Comments are closed.