Gold has big year in 2020 and outlook for this year robust. Learn about monetary expansion and gold future prices.Read More
The gold futures price reached US$1,767/ounce this week before retreating, which was the second time it has surpassed US$1,760 in the past two months, marking some of gold's highest levels in several years.Read More
The three-month nickel price traded on the London Metal Exchange continues to languish below $15,000 per tonne at the close on Tuesday November 19 while fresh inflows continue to pressure nickel futures. LME nickel stocks have fallen by 60% in just over two months to 66,174 tonnes from 166,680 tonnes on September 12 but the LME three-month nickel price has been on a general downtrend over the same...Read More
Import hurdles that emerged in some ports in China last week do not appear to have had much of an effect on the seaborne coking coal market, with a cargo of premium low-vol product fetching $145 per tonne cfr China on Tuesday November 19.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $131.91 per tonne, down $1.81 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $144.14 per tonne, down $3.6...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its downtrend during morning trading on Tuesday November 19, with price action coming under downward pressure from fresh inflows. Nickel's outright price was recently at $14,575 per tonne, while just over 2,000 lots were exchanged as of 9:15am London time. The metal's underlying price has been falling since reaching a 2019-high of...Read More
Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia rose this week on higher offers, improved demand and expectations that prices will increase further, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 19.Buyers placed some bookings during the week and expect further price increases in the coming days.UAEOffer prices for hot-rolled coil from Japan were heard in the UAE at $460 per to...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Southern Europe have moved up due to reduced output and a rise in import offers, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 19.At the same time, Northern European transaction prices have been largely stable after the region's steelmakers announced a price rise at the end of last week.Southern EuropeSouthern European mills have been targeting prices of ?,?40...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday November 19 that are worth another look.Flat-rolled steel sales volumes from Brazilian distributors rose by 18.3% year on year in October, outpacing purchases and leading to a decline in stocks, steel distributors' association Inda said on November 19.Next year will be a "transitional year" for the nickel market ahead of a shift...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday November 19.Please click...Read More
Next year will be a "transitional year" for the nickel market ahead of a shift into a structural deficit in 2021, Denis Sharypin, head of market intelligence at Norilsk Nickel, told delegates at Fastmarkets' International Ferro-alloys Conference in Budapest, Hungary, this week. The market will strengthen as demand ramps up, especially with annual consumption from the battery sector swelling to 500...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its downtrend during morning trading on Tuesday November 19, with price action coming under downward pressure from fresh inflows. Nickel's outright price was recently at $14,575 per tonne, while just over 2,000 lots were exchanged as of 9:15am London time. The metal's underlying price has been falling since reaching a 2019-high of...Read More
While equity markets in the United States have pushed up to and are holding near record highs, the industrial metals are by comparison weak.This suggests global industry is still unsure about whether a post-trade war rebound is on the cards, or whether a trade deal will even emerge. Haven assets are back in demand while trade uncertainty dominates.London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price fal...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were all down during the morning trading session on Tuesday November 19, with uncertainty over United States-China trade negotiations continuing to weigh on the complex. Market sentiment was subdued this morning following overnight reports that China was growing pessimistic about a trade deal due to US President Donald Trump's reluctance to remov...Read More
US hot-rolled coil prices remained roughly flat on Tuesday November 19 amid deepening concerns among buyers that a recent upward trend might be running out of steam.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $26.60 per hundredweight ($532 per short ton) on November 19, roughly unchanged from $26.64 per cwt on November 18 but up by 2% from $26.08 per cwt a we...Read More
Flat-rolled steel sales volumes from Brazilian distributors rose by 18.3% year-on-year in October, outpacing purchases and leading to a decline in stocks, steel distributors' association Inda said on Tuesday November 19.Sales reached 317,700 tonnes, compared with 268,500 tonnes in October 2018. Growth of 9.6% was seen when compared with September's sales volume of 290,000 tonnes.Distributors purch...Read More
Demand for passenger cars in Europe jumped by 8.68% year on year in October 2019, the European Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Tuesday November 19. New car sales in Europe totaled 1,177,746 vehicles in October this year, compared with 1,083,693 units sold in the corresponding month of 2018. The ACEA attributed the annual rise to a lower number of registrations in October 2018 f...Read More
Seasonally weak demand in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow has pushed prices for hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel sheet lower, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday November 18.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled sheet, domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia, was 39,000-40,000 roubles ($611-627) per tonne on November 18, including 20% VAT. This was down from 39,500-41,000 r...Read More
RAPAPORT... Diamcor Mining returned to profit in the second fiscalquarter, as an efficiency program helped it reduce costs. The miner recorded a net profit of $350,676 for the threemonths ending September 30, versus a loss of $417,368 during the same period ayear ago, it said last week. The company shaved its expenses by reducing its usage of heavyequipment and fuel, it explained. Rough-diamond s...Read More
RAPAPORT... Singapore-based retailer SK Jewellery Group saw a heavy declinein sales for the third quarter amid economic challenges in key markets and theclosure of its gold-trading platform. Revenue fell 46% to SGD 32.6 million ($24 million), whilenet profit slumped 58% to SGD 359,000 ($263,889), the company said in a statement earlier this month. "Continuing tensions between Japan and Korea,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports rose 1.5% to CHF 2.03 billion ($2.04billion) in October as increased orders from the US, China and Japan outweighed a significant drop in Hong Kong. "Overall growth was hindered by [a] very marked decline inHong Kong, while the rest of the world generally saw an upturn," the Federationof the Swiss Watch Industry said Tuesday. Unrest in the municipality has increasin...Read More
Mexican ferrous scrap prices inched upward during the week ended Friday November 15, with prices for most grades increasing by 150-350 pesos in the steelmaking regions of Bajio and Monterrey.A seller in the Bajio market expects prices to continue to climb due to tighter local scrap supply and increased prices for imported scrap from the United States. While one outlying Bajio mill trimmed pri...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Stephane Fischler, President of the World Diamond Council (WDC), told government representatives at the 2019 Kimberley Process (KP) Plenary Meeting that the future of the process depends on them.During the address at the start of the Plenary Meeting in New Delhi, India, Fischer said that with the end of a three-year reform and review cycle, governments hold the future of the KP in...Read More