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Copper prices fall as attention shifts towards the U.S. tariff deadline of July 9.
Copper prices fell on Friday, as attention shifted to President Donald Trump’s July 9 deadline for imposing tariffs on countries who have not yet signed trade agreements. The benchmark copper price on the London Metal Exchange was $9,875 per metric ton as of 1017 GMT. It had earlier reached a three-month peak at $10,020.5 per ton. Traders said volumes are low and will likely remain that way due to the Independence Day holiday on July 4 in the United States. Trump announced that his administration would begin sending letters to 10-12 countries later on Friday informing them about the tariff rates their products will be subject to in the United States. The traders reported that the caution due to the fact that several major trading partners including the European Union (EU), Japan, and India are still trying to negotiate an agreement with the U.S. has triggered the profit-taking of long positions or bets for higher prices. The 21-day moving median of around $9,760 is the first technical support for copper. There are also concerns about the availability of aluminium on the LME due to large holdings in warrants (#LMEWHL) and contracts near by (#LMEFBR), as well as a slowdown in outflows. Deliveries to approved warehouses of the London Exchange. Since June 25, the LME's aluminum stocks have increased by more than 20,000 tonnes to 356,975 tonnes. Metal earmarked at 2% or cancelled warrants indicate that only a small amount is due to be delivered. A weaker dollar provided some support to industrial metals Friday. Traders said that the Federal Reserve's prospects of holding rates steady following Thursday's strong employment report could increase the U.S. dollar and impact metals demand. Aluminum Lead fell 0.2% to 2,059 a tonne, while tin dropped 0.4% to 33,710 a metric ton. Nickel also declined 0.5%, to $15,370.
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Moscow bourse stops trading in Uzhuralzoloto after state demands ownership stake
The central bank of Russia has ordered that the Moscow Exchange suspend trading in shares owned by gold producer Uzhuralzoloto. A Russian court announced on Thursday that the Prosecutor-General had filed a suit to transfer ownership of shares held by Konstantin Strukov, an investor in Uzhuralzoloto, to the government. This is part of a escalation this year of the seizures of assets domestically through Russian courts. In a Friday statement, UGC stated that it was in constant contact with the Central Bank and that its "priority is to protect our minority shareholders." Strukov is the owner of 67.85% of UGC, Russia’s fourth largest gold producer. He told the TASS agency on Friday that he "works quietly" in Chelyabinsk where he is the deputy speaker of regional parliament. He declined to comment about the decision to seize his stock. News agencies reported that Russian investigators searched the UGC offices in connection with criminal charges relating to violations of environmental laws and industrial safety laws. According to the agencies, who cited a source from law enforcement, on Thursday, prosecutors wanted to convert Strukov’s entire stake in UGC into state property. Strukov's fortune, estimated by Forbes to be $1.9 billion, has been placed under sanctions by several Western countries. Britain was one of them, as it said that his role as director of a Russian company involved in the extractives sector supported Russia's government. (Reporting Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Lucy Papachristou, Editing by Mark Trevelyan).
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Sources say that the sale of Panin Bank's stake in Indonesia is stalled due to pricing mismatch.
Three sources familiar with the matter claim that the sale of a majority stake in Bank Pan Indonesia, or Panin Bank, listed on Jakarta's stock exchange by ANZ Australia and Indonesia’s Gunawan Family has been stalled because of a mismatch of pricing. The combined stake is equivalent to approximately 86% of Panin Bank. This bank was valued at $1.45 billion on Friday, based on the 1,140 rupiah share price on the Jakarta Stock Exchange. According to LSEG, the Gunawan family holds 46.5% of the shares. It is willing to reduce its holdings. ANZ, an Australian bank, owns around 39.2%. CIMB Group, DBS Group, and other regional lenders showed interest in the sale earlier this year. Both banks, however, did not make binding bids because they could not meet the sellers' expectations. One source said that the sellers wanted a price tag more than double the current Panin Bank price-to book ratio. LSEG data shows that Panin Bank's shares were traded at 0.75 book value in the first quarter ending March 2025. Sources who declined to give their names as it was a private matter said that the sale process could resume once the price gap is reduced. One source added that CIMB remains interested in and open to discussions. ANZ Citi DBS declined comment. Panin Bank Director Herwidayatmo stated that the management of the bank is not involved in this process. She referred the question to the controlling shareholders. Gunawan Family could not be contacted for comment. CIMB has not responded to a request for comment sent via email. ANZ, together with the Gunawan Family, began a joint sale last year. They put the combined controlling share on the market. The sale is part of ANZ’s strategy to reduce low-returning business lines, and to reduce exposure to retail banking and wealth management in Asia in order to boost return on Equity. Panin Bank, founded in 1971 by Mu'min Ali Gunawan, was listed at the Jakarta Stock Exchange in 1982. According to its website, the bank's business ranges from consumer finance to private wealth. ($1 = 4.2240 ringgit) ($1 = 16,190.0000 rupiah)
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Gold to gain weekly on Dollar weakness and Safe-haven Demand
Gold prices rose on Friday, heading towards a weekly increase. This was helped by the retreat of the U.S. Dollar and inflows into safe-haven assets as President Donald Trump's trade deadline loomed. As of 0617 GMT, spot gold increased 0.5%, to $3,343.07 an ounce. Bullion has risen by about 2.1% in the last week. U.S. Gold Futures rose 0.3% to $3.352.50. Gold became less expensive for holders of other currencies as the dollar index fell by 0.2%. The apprehension over the fiscal situation in America (after Trump's sweeping bill to cut taxes passed Congress) as well as the lingering uncertainties about the July 9 deadline on the tariff issue have boosted the demand for safe-haven assets, said Ricardo Evangelista senior analyst at brokerage company ActivTrades. Trump announced on Friday that Washington would begin sending letters to other countries, a departure from the earlier plans of individual trade agreements. He announced reciprocal tariffs between 10% and 50% on April 2. However, he reduced the majority to 10% by July 9, to allow time for negotiations. Trump's tax cut legislation passed its final hurdle before Congress on Thursday. It makes his 2017 tax cuts permanent and funds his immigration crackdown. The data showed that U.S. jobs grew unexpectedly well in June. However, nearly half of this increase came from the non-farm sector. Private industry's gains were the lowest in eight months, as businesses struggled with rising economic headwinds. The latest U.S. employment data confirms a slowdown in the economy but not a standstill. This will reduce the pressure on Fed to lower interest rates any time soon, said UBS commodity analysts Giovanni Staunovo. Palladium fell 0.1% and spot silver rose 0.1%, to $36.66 per ounce. Platinum gained 0.7% per ounce to $1,376.33 and is on track for a fifth consecutive week of gains. (Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
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China cracks down on price wars as iron ore gains for the second consecutive week
Iron ore futures prices continued to rise on Friday. This was due to a better market sentiment following a call by officials in China, the world's largest consumer, for a reduction in aggressive price competition. The September contract for iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange ended the daytime trading 0.62% higher, at 732.5 Yuan ($102.25). The contract rose 3.08% in value this week. As of 805 GMT, the benchmark August iron ore traded on the Singapore Exchange had fallen 0.3% to $96.15 per ton. However, it was up by 1.93% in the past week. The Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission has called for more stringent measures to combat aggressive price cutting amongst companies. Analysts said that this has led to hopes for a second round in supply reforms, which could increase steel margins and mills' tolerance of price for ingredients. SteelHome data shows that total iron ore stockpiles in China ports fell by 0.15% on a weekly basis to 133.4 millions tons at the end of July, which also helped to support prices. The upside potential was limited by signs of a softening in demand, in part because of environmental protection-related production controls in Tangshan (China's largest steel-producing hub). The average daily hot metal production, which is a measure of iron ore consumption, fell by 0.6% from the previous week to 2.41 million tonnes as of July 3. This was the lowest level since April 19. After the 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill,' proposed by U.S. president Donald Trump, was passed, the dollar's gains were reduced. Dollar-denominated investments become more expensive to holders of other currencies when the greenback is stronger. Coking coal and coke, which are used to make steel, also lost ground. They fell by 1.06% and 0.4%, respectively. The Shanghai Futures Exchange saw a rise in most steel benchmarks. Rebar rose by 0.23%. Hot-rolled coil increased by 0.25%. Stainless steel grew by 0.39%. Wire rod dropped 0.09%. ($1 = 7.1641 Chinese yuan). (Reporting and editing by Eileen Soreng; Lucas Liew)
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Prices of copper are at multi-month highs. US tariffs could be imposed on metal.
The London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange saw copper prices fall from their multi-month highs, although SHFE copper posted a gain for the week, as traders waited to see if U.S. import tariffs would be imposed. The price of three-month copper at the London Metal Exchange fell by 1.06%, to $9,848.5 a metric ton, as of 0736 GMT. This was a decline of 0.31% for the entire week. The SHFE's most traded copper contract fell 1.28%, to 79.730 yuan (11,128.17), but posted a second consecutive weekly gain of 0.54%. The fundamentals of the market haven't changed much. China's copper production in June was up 11.4% year-on-year, which eased the concerns about supply shortages, according to a Shanghai based metals analyst at a futures firm. The dollar has strengthened as the United States is unlikely to cut interest rates anytime soon, despite better than expected payroll and unemployment figures. Also, the "big beautiful bill" has passed and the attention of the copper markets has shifted back to possible U.S. import tariffs. Two analysts in China have dismissed the significance of recent increases in copper stocks In warehouses registered with the LME. After a gradual decline from mid-April, the volume increased by 3,700 tons (4.1%) in three days. The Shanghai analyst stated that "Copper will continue to be shipped from other countries into the U.S. as long as there is no agreement on the U.S. Tariff." LME nickel fell by 0.56%, to $15,365 per ton. Zinc dropped 0.53%, to $2 736, tin declined 0.44%, to $33,700. Lead eased 0.15%, to $2 061, and Aluminium slipped 0.19%, to $2 600. SHFE nickel rose by 0.64%, to 122.270 yuan per ton. Zinc increased by 0.34%, to 22.410 yuan. Lead gained 0.2%, to 17.295 yuan. Tin fell 0.65%, to 267.250 yuan. Aluminium shed 0.24%, to 20,635 Yuan. Click or to see the latest news in metals, and other related stories.
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Angola increases diesel prices again to boost public finances
Angola has increased the price of diesel by a third as part its drive to reduce costly subsidies and strengthen public finances. Since 2023, the International Monetary Fund has encouraged the African oil producing country to gradually remove fuel subsidies. The economy of the country is facing pressure due to a drop in global crude oil prices earlier this year. It also faces repayments on external debt of $9 billion by 2025. This includes a Eurobond that matures in November. Diesel prices have risen from 300 kwanzas to 400 kwanzas per litre, which is the second increase this year. The Petroleum Products Regulator left the prices of petrol and liquefied Petroleum Gas unchanged. In October, Finance Minister Vera Daves de Sousa said that fuel subsidies were around 4% on the gross domestic product in 2017. She also stated that the government would continue to remove them in stages. In May, the IMF announced that it had reduced Angola's initial growth forecast for 2025 from 3% to 2.4%. It cited lower oil prices and tighter external financing conditions. Angola's social unrest on Friday was not triggered by the petrol price increase in 2023, which sparked deadly protests.
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GLOBAL-MARKETS-Stocks dip, dollar in doldrums as Trump's deal deadline approaches
The stock market fell on Friday, despite Wall Street's overnight record highs. Next week is the deadline set by U.S. president Donald Trump for a trade deal. As traders weighed the implications of Trump's expected signing of a sweeping spending bill later that day, the dollar lost some of its gains from Thursday. The pan-European STOXX 600 Index fell 0.6%. This was mainly due to losses in spirits producers such as Pernod Ricard, Remy Cointreau and others after China announced it would begin imposing duties up to 34.9% for brandy imported from the European Union on July 5. U.S. S&P futures dipped 0.5% after a 0.8% overnight gain for the cash index, which reached a new all-time high closing. Wall Street will be closed for Independence Day on Friday. Trump announced that Washington will begin sending letters on Friday to countries specifying the tariff rates they will be facing on exports into the United States. This is a significant shift from his earlier promises to reach scores of individual agreements before a deadline on July 9, when tariffs may rise dramatically. Tony Sycamore is an analyst with IG. He said that investors are "just waiting for July 9" and the lack of optimism in the market for trade agreements has contributed to some of the weakness of equity markets, especially those export-dependent Asia, such as Japan and South Korea. Sycamore stated that the jobs data on Thursday showed "the U.S. Economy is holding up better than most people anticipated, which suggests that markets could easily continue to perform better from here." Investors reacted positively to the surprising robustness of the jobs report, which sent all three major U.S. equity indices higher in a short session. The House approved Trump's 869-page signature bill after the vote ended. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, this would add $3.4 trillion dollars to the $36.2 trillion national debt. TRADE IS THE KEY OBJECTIVE IN ASIA Trump announced that he expects "a couple" of more trade deals after signing a deal on Wednesday with Vietnam to add to the framework agreements with China, and Britain which are so far his only achievements. Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury secretary, said this week that an agreement with India was close. The White House had once said that agreements with Japan and South Korea would be announced as soon as possible. However, it appears they have fallen through. The U.S. Dollar rose overnight by as much as 0.7% against a basket major counterparts after traders backed off any expectation of a Federal Reserve rate cut in this month. The dollar ended the day Thursday up 0.4%. The U.S. dollar gave up some of its gains on Friday. It fell 0.4% to 144.31 Japanese yen, and 0.2% to 0.7936 Swiss Franc. The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1773, and the sterling remained at $1.3662. The U.S. Treasury Bond market is closed for the weekend, but the 10-year yields increased 4.7 basis points to 4.34% and the 2-year yields jumped 9.3 basis points to 3.882%. Gold rose 0.4% to $3339 an ounce. This is on track to be a weekly increase as investors once again sought safe haven assets because of concerns about the U.S. fiscal situation and tariffs. Brent crude futures dropped 7 cents to $68,73 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil was last seen at $67.02. (Reporting from London by Lawrence White and Kevin Buckland; Editing by Stephen Coates Kim Coghill Alexandra Hudson
China vows to crackdown on price wars as iron ore gains for the second consecutive week
Iron ore futures prices continued to rise on Friday, and are headed for their second weekly gain in a row. This is due to an improved market mood after Chinese officials called for a reduction in aggressive price competition.
The September contract for iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange ended the morning trading 1.03% higher, at 735.5 Yuan ($102.65).
This week, the contract has gained 3,01%.
As of 0345 GMT the benchmark August iron ore was $96.55 per ton on the Singapore Exchange. It was up 2.4% this week.
The Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission has called for more stringent measures to combat aggressive price cutting amongst companies.
Analysts said that this has led to hopes for a second round in supply reforms, which could increase steel margins and mills' tolerance of price for ingredients.
The upside potential was limited by signs of a softening in demand, in part because of environmental protection-related production controls in Tangshan (China's largest steel-producing hub).
The average daily hot metal production, which is a measure of iron ore consumption, fell by 0.6% from the previous week to 2.41 million tonnes as of July 3. This was the lowest level since April 19.
The dollar rose on Thursday, following a surprising robust report on jobs.
Dollar-denominated investments become more expensive to holders of other currencies when the greenback is stronger.
Coke and coking coal, the other steelmaking ingredients, traded in a sideways manner.
All steel benchmarks at the Shanghai Futures Exchange increased. The benchmarks for steel on the Shanghai Futures Exchange all increased. ($1 = 7.1651 Chinese yuan). (Reporting and editing by Eileen Soreng; Lucas Liew)
(source: Reuters)