London Metal Exhchange three-month base metals prices absorbed any residual optimism from the People's Bank of China's 1.2 trillion yuan ($174 billion) boost to liquidity to close the day little-changed on Tuesday February 4.
"Much of the dip-buying interest seen in the early Asian trading session on Tuesday February 4 appears to be a false dawn," Fastmarkets analyst Andy Farida said. "The LME base metals complex was reacting with short-term optimism following the fresh intervention of the Chinese authorities aiming to reign in further sell-offs. By late afternoon, the reality that the deadly novel-coronavirus had resurfaced came along, wiping out most of the earlier gains."Nonetheless, trading volumes benefited from the reintroduction of Asia to the market on Monday and liquidity picked up significantly for aluminium and copper - Asia's two most-traded base metals contracts. LME aluminium topped the...