By Ellie Wang / January 04, 2018 / www.metalbulletin.com /
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Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Asia, bringing the key news and market stories on Thursday January 4.
Copper was trading in a tight range during Asian trading hours on Thursday January 4 amid mixed market sentiment following the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes overnight.
Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report
here.
LME snapshot at 0240 London time |
Latest 3M LME Prices |
| Price ($/t) | Change since yesterday's close ($) |
Copper | 7170.5 | -4 |
Aluminium | 2217.5 | -12 |
Lead | 2555 | -22 |
Zinc | 3325 | -5 |
Tin | 19885 | -50 |
Nickel | 12410 | -40 |
SHFE snapshot at 0240 Shanghai time |
Most traded SHFE contracts |
| Price (yuan/t) | Change since yesterday's close (yuan) |
Copper (Feb) | 54800 | -50 |
Aluminium (Feb) | 14975 | -90 |
Zinc (Feb) | 25800 | 25 |
Lead (Feb) | 19315 | 5 |
Tin (May) | 145040 | -10 |
Nickel (May) | 97820 | -800 |
Chinese government policies, especially
those limiting pollution, will continue to be a factor affecting coking coal prices in 2018.
Heavy Chinese investment in Indonesian nickel smelting and stainless steel production means that an increasing quantity of nickel ore mined in the country will be
consumed internally from 2018 onwards.
Brazilian flat steel producer CSN has applied an
increase of 23% in its annual pricing contracts to local automakers, effective Monday January 1, the company confirmed to Metal Bulletin on January 3.
A
$20-per-tonne increase in US ferrous scrap export prices prior to the holidays is heating up the market just as frigid weather conditions begin to trigger collection concerns among Northeastern market participants.
Most global nickel premiums were flat, while new Chinese import duties pushed free-trade briquettes to China from Australia to
a historic high.