Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange fell across the board at the close on Wednesday February 28, with the complex under pressure from the resurgent dollar, which hit its highest level since January 19.
The three-month copper price plummeted to a two week low and closed below the $7,000-per-tonne support level. "The base metals complex has retreated on the back of a stronger dollar index after US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell maintained his hawkish rhetoric during his testimony on Tuesday to Congress," Metal Bulletin analyst Andy Farida said."Furthermore, the stronger-than-expected CB consumer confidence data for February supported the dollar index to erode psychological resistance at 90.00," he added. Nickel retreated $45 per tonne despite hitting $14,030 per tonne earlier in the day, while zinc lost $39.50 per tonne following earlier disappointing Chinese manufacturing...