Copper extends losses on LME
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Copper prices extended this week’s losses on Friday as the technical charts pointed lower and analysts fretted about a slowdown of Chinese demand. Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange was down $135 or 1.7 percent at $7,765/7,775 a tonne at 0937 GMT.
Copper prices have fallen by over 6 percent from the past week from an 11-month high of $8,335 recorded last Friday. Inventories in LME-registered warehouses have dropped to 142,275 tonnes, levels last seen in the start of November 2006. But Chinese buying could soon come to an end, analysts said.
Weaker domestic demand weighted on copper prices in China, pulling them lower than imported metal, possibly in response to current high prices, analyst Mr. John Meyer at Numis securities said in a report.
Copper in ware houses monitored by the Shanghai futures exchange rose 26 percent from two weeks ago.
Merger Talk Resumes:
Share prices in the world’s second biggest mining company, Rio Tinto, jumped 5 percent on the London Stock Exchange on the renewed speculation that could be swallowed up by larger rival BHP Billiton. A bid is unlikely because both companies have said they haven’t received any offers, UBS Mr. Bhar said.
BHP Billiton’s shares were flat amid a downturn in European shares as economic growth worries added to Thursday’s interest rate concerns after this week’s bank of England, European Central Bank and the United states Federal Reserve meetings.
Aluminium was at $2,820/2,823 against Thursday’s $2,835. Zinc fell 1.6 percent or $65 to $3,960/3.980. Nickel was down $400 to $49,600/49,800, lead fell $5 to $2,040/2,050 and tin was at $13,650/13,850, down $150.
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Source : Business Line |
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