ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 07/06: Copper prices rally on LME, Comex; Holta acquires Metal Powder Technology; Henan province lead smelters to cut production by more than 30% in June

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Thursday June 7.

Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange continued to rally at the close of trading on Wednesday June 6, ending trading 1.6% higher and surpassing $7,200 per tonne for the first time since January 2. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:


Comex copper prices climbed by 1.6% during Wednesday trading, with prices propelled higher by fears of supply outages resulting from possible industrial action at the Escondida mine in Chile.

Holta Invest, an investment company that owns Nizi Group, has bought Swedish metal powder maker Metal Powder Technology to strengthen its presence in the metal powder business, the company said.

Lead smelters in China's Henan province, home to one-third of the country's lead output, plan to cut their production by more than 30% during a month-long environment inspection in June, sources told Metal Bulletin.

Following Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange's public consultation on adding nickel briquettes for physical delivery, many market participants have said that the move would generate more liquidity and bring transparency to the nickel briquette price, if successfully approved.

The duty-free aluminium import arbitrage between the United States and Asia remains wide, with Section 232 tariff concerns and sanctions on Russian aluminium producer UC Rusal continuing to support the US Midwest premium.

Egypt's biggest steel producer, Ezz Steel, enjoyed strong local demand and recorded a 190% increase in consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) in the first quarter of 2018, the company said.

Ferrous scrap export prices on both the US East and West Coasts fell in the latest bulk sales transacted to Turkey and South Korea, with offers also softening for containerized scrap.

Mixed outlook for gold as it remains range bound for past three months

Gold stocks down on flat metal price

Gold stocks down on metal decline

Huge quantifiable rise in geopolitical, economic and trade risks

Platinum clearly ahead of palladium for first time in seven years