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Gold/Mining/Energy : Manhattan Minerals (MAN.T) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TheBusDriver who wrote (2562)	6/25/1999 4:23:00 AM
From: Gerald Walls	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4504

This might help us (and silver as it's a by-product) this morning: Friday June 25, 2:28 am Eastern Time BHP sparks hectic Asia copper trading SYDNEY, June 25 (Reuters) - The announcement by Australian resources giant the Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd that it would close its United States copper operations on Friday sparked one of the busiest days of copper trading in the Australian/Asian region in years. Frantic metals traders had only terse words as copper prices soared and afternoon trading showed no sign of slowing. ''It's been one of the busiest days since the Hamanaka incident,'' one Australian metals trader said. Yasuo Hamanaka, of Japan's Sumitomo group, artificially boosted copper prices by $1,000 a tonne or more before the operation collapsed in scandal in mid-1996 amid chaotic scenes in the world copper market. BHP's announcement of the closure of its U.S. mines on Friday triggered big-volume sales of around 30,000 tonnes of copper in Australia/Asia trading. ''Today was one of the busiest days in copper for the Far East in a long time,'' John Sutton, head of Australian commodities at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, told Reuters. ''LME trading will continue well into tonight,'' he said. After enduring 12-year lows in world copper prices, the world had been looking for a reduction in supply, he said. BHP's announcement on Friday morning that it would remove its U.S. production of nearly 200,000 tonnes of copper supply each year removed about two-thirds of a forecast supply overhang on world markets. ''This is good news for the market, it has been waiting for this for a long time,'' Sutton said. Traders said that the market attracted significant interest from Asian buyers, with one pinpointing much Chinese buying amid widespread interest. After leaping by about $50 a tonne to an intra-day high of US$1,525 a tonne from the overnight evaluation close in London of $1,475, copper prices settled back only slightly to around $1,520 in afternoon trading. Selling was capping the rise, although metals traders were unable to identify significant producer selling. BHP itself said it had not specifically taken out a position in copper futures ahead of Friday's announcement of the closure of its U.S. copper interests. Australian traders were looking for copper to continue to surge when main northern hemisphere markets took over from trading in the normally quiet Australian/Asian time zone. Traders expected prices to continue to rise to $1,550-$1,560 in short term technical buying.