Lead prices on the London Metal Exchange were up around 2% at the close of trading on Friday September 7 while aluminium gained 1.4% on news that industrial action at Alcoa's alumina operations in Western Australia is set to continue.
After more than 7,000 tonnes of material were booked for removal on Friday morning, three-month lead regained most of the losses made by Thursday's close. Marginal upticks in copper and tin prices broadly reflect stock drawdowns and fresh cancelations while uncertainty about trade tensions between the United States and China continues to threaten the global economy. But while the base metals have suffered from a lack of investor interest amid volatile emerging market currencies and falling equity markets, aluminium has held firm - it is broadly rangebound at $2,050-2,100 per tonne. News of a continued strike at Alcoa's alumina and bauxite operations in Western Australia threatens global alumina production, which could make aluminium production more costly.https://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/3831635/Home/Workers-at-Alcoas-Western-Australia-alumina-operations-reject-workplace-agreement-strike-continues.htmlBut labor agreements at Norsk Hydro's Alunorte operation in northern Brazil, the world's largest alumina refinery, could provide a measure of steadiness....