Latest News

Copper heads have the worst week since march as tech worries spread

Copper heads have the worst week since march as tech worries spread
Copper heads have the worst week since march as tech worries spread

Copper fell on Friday, and was 'on track for its steepest week-to-week drop in more than three months. A selloff in technology equities spilled over into the metal.

Benchmark 'three-month' copper on the London Metal Exchange was down by 0.3% to $13,236 per metric ton at 0920 GMT.

Metal, considered to be a bellwether of global economic health, is on track to end the weekend down 2.6%. This would mark the biggest weekly drop since the week ended March 20.

Apple's price increases fueled concerns about the inflationary impact of tech giants' spending.

Robert Montefusco, senior broker at Sucden Financial, said that the copper selloff looked "a little overdone". "We are looking for it rebounding again, to chase up to $13,500. But there is no impetus yet to really do it - and that's the problem," he said. "No one is seeing any real physical demand."

Copper inventories are tight. Shanghai Futures Exchange Copper stocks LME copper inventories fell by 5.7% to 135,732 tonnes, the lowest level since December. The lowest level since March 18 is 336 475 tons.

The cash LME contract traded at a discount of $40 per ton to the forward three-month contract This indicates that there is no shortage of supply in the near future.

After a cargo vessel was struck?in Thursday's Strait of Hormuz, aluminium prices rose 0.4% to $3175.50 per ton, raising concerns over the Middle East's?tentative agreement for peace?

Metal touched $3,110 Wednesday, its lowest level since February 25, before the U.S. - Iran conflict started. It was headed for a weekly drop of 6.4%, which would be its worst since March.

Montefusco added that the cost of producing aluminum should also be falling.

Zinc rose 0.1%, nickel 0.4%, and tin 0.1%, while lead remained flat at $1.912. (Reporting and additional reporting by Solomon Cefai, Editing by Rashmi aich and Joyjeet Das.)

(source: Reuters)