Tuesday July 24, 2:33 pm Eastern Time
COMMODITIES-LME copper prices and palladium plummet
biz.yahoo.com
By Adrian Dascalu
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Copper prices slipped on the London Metal Exchange (LME) Tuesday, while on the bullion market palladium hit fresh lows on the back of thin industrial demand and continued seeling. On the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), sugar and cocoa ended weaker while robusta futures closed slightly higher following a modest climb in New York arabicas.
CHILE COPPER MINES UNAFFECTED BY EARTHQUAKE
Copper prices fell after posting gains on the back of a technical bounce and reports of an earthquake in Chile, the world's largest producer of the metal. ``The trend is still down -- there's nothing fundamentally or technically in the market at the moment which says prices should be higher,'' said one trader. Three-months copper ended the day at $1,517 a tonne, up $6. During the day, prices rose to $1,527 after reports that an earthquake had hit northern Chile's copper mining region, but returned to lower levels as output at key mines in the country were unaffected by the quake. Slow summer demand, rising inventories and the global economic slowdown will continue to keep copper under pressure, traders said.
Aluminium ended down $7 at $1,424. ``...fundamentally it's (aluminium) far better positioned than copper. We'd look for it to stabilise in the short term around these levels, and for the differential between copper and aluminium to narrow even further,'' a trader said.
Tin closed $55 higher at $4,165/70 and zinc gained $6 to $874. Lead was $3 higher at $486. Nickel lost $50 to $5,810.
PALLADIUM LOWER AMID SLACK DEMAND
Gold traded in a narrow range in Europe, in a market focusing on currencies for direction. Spot gold ended at $268.60/$269.10 a troy ounce, unchanged from the New York close on Monday. A stable euro provided some support to gold as it made the dollar-denominated bullion more affordable to European investors, traders said.
Palladium tumbled to a fresh 18-month low amid ample supply, persistent selling and thin demand. Palladium prices, which in the morning hit a new low on the back of a flurry of selling in London to fix at $455.00 a troy ounce, the lowest level since Jan 21, 2000, subsequently recovered to close at $457.00/$467.00. Traders said they saw the metal still vulnerable to further selling and thin industrial demand.
Silver ended at $4.25/$4.27 an ounce in thin trade, flat on Monday's New York close, while platinum (XPT=> was last quoted at $493.00/498.00, down from $494.50/499.50 at the close in New York.
PGM prices have suffered over recent weeks amid reports that the world economic slowdown is biting into key demand sectors for the metals, such as the car industry where platinum and palladium are used in autocatalysts to clean exhaust fumes.
SUGAR, COCOA END LOWER, COFFEE UP
LIFFE sugar ended lower but dealers said they expected the market to stay buoyant in the coming days. Nearby October last traded at $244.10 a tonne, down from $247.50 a tonne in the previous session and December ended the day at $238.10 a tonne versus a previous $241.20. London cocoa futures drifted slightly lower in slow summer business, with benchmark September losing 4 stg to 695 stg a tonne and December dipping 2 stg to 715 stg a tonne. The market was mostly at a standstill and expected to remain quiet through the end of August, traders said. London robusta futures ended higher but remained under pressure from overhead origin selling, traders said. September coffee finished up $6 at 528 a tonne and November gained the same to $536.
Key prices at 1600 GMT:
TUSDAY MONDAY
Ldn Spot Gold ($/oz, Europe close) 268.60 268.70
IPE Brent Crude Oil (Sept) 25.02 25.06
London Metal Exchange
(Three months delivery)
Copper ($ per tonne) 1,517.00 1,511.00
Aluminium ($ per tonne) 1,424.00 1,431.00
LIFFE
Coffee ($/tonne) (Sept, close) 528.00 522.00
Cocoa (Sterling/tonne)(Sept, close) 695.00 699.00
White Sugar ($/tonne) (Oct) 244.10 250.50
CBOT wheat ($/bushel) (Sept) 2.84 2.83 |
