Copper prices on June 24, 2021 extended gains after the head of the US central bank vowed to keep interest rates low to promote economic recovery.
On the London bourse, three-month copper futures rose 2% to $9,489 per tonne. Copper fell 8.6% last week, its biggest weekly drop since March 2020, on fears US monetary policy will tighten soon. Comex HGcv1 rose 2.4% to $4.33/lb. “After the sharp drop last week, this could be a good entry level if you are an investor or a consumer,” said independent consultant Robin Bhar. On the London floor, other metals also changed, with nickel prices moving in line with a three-month contract for the first time since November 2019. Aluminum rose 0.4% to $2,435 a tonne, zinc rose 1% to $2,890, nickel rose 1.8% to $18,065, lead rose 0.8% to $2,191.50 and tin rose 0 .1% to $30,425. The Chinese government has started selling metal items according to the announcement they made earlier. Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration & National Strategy announced its intention to sell 20,000 tons of copper, 30,000 tons of zinc and 50,000 tons of aluminum in the first sale. The agency is believed to be holding much larger volumes of the metal. According to a Fastmarket poll, between 350,000 and 800,000 tons of copper were purchased last year. The volume of sales in the first batch will only be equal to the average daily consumption in China. The copper and zinc sales will be made through China Minmeltal’s electronic bidding platform managed by the Norinco Group, both state-owned. Buyers will have 1 week to register for the auction and the bidding will begin on July 2, 2021. After the initial announcement was made last week, copper prices fell sharply after a rally that analysts at Trafigura and Goldman Sachs saw as a sign of a commodity supercycle.
Source: VITIC/Reuters
