Base Metals Little Changed
Feb 10th, 2009 | By Doug Casey | Category: Financial NewsThe base metals were on little changed on Monday. Copper fell from the pre-dawn hours to the New York open, but rallied from there through the rest of the day, finishing at $1.6116/lb., up more than a penny.
Nickel peaked in the pre-dawn hours and gave ground from there, closing at $5.1785/lb., down nearly 5 cents. Zinc was up early, gave most of it back, and traded dead flat through the New York day to end at $0.5267/lb., up a quarter of a cent. Aluminum was weak, shedding more than a half-cent, to $0.6374/lb., while lead eked out a small gain, tacking on a third of a cent, to $0.5334/lb.
Copper sloughed off a lot of its early gains after Geithner put off announcing the U.S. financial-recovery plan, spurring concern the recession will be prolonged.
That led Michael K. Smith, of T&K Futures & Options in Port St. Lucie, Florida, to comment that, “Anything like this delay is just going to hurt copper … It puts a damper on the global economy and puts a hold on copper.”
Traders are also “holding their positions in copper” as they wait to see if the Senate approves President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, said Matthew Zeman, of LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. The Senate may vote this week on a plan totaling at least $780 billion, which would then have to be reconciled with the House version.
Meanwhile, the beat went on for stockpiles. Copper inventories monitored by the LME rose again yesterday, adding 3,150 metric tons, to 507,775 tons, a fresh 62-month high.
In company news, the West Australian newspaper reported that, “ (NYSE:BHP) BHP Billiton’s chief executive Marius Kloppers has ruled out a cash bid for Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RTP) on technical grounds while conceding BHP’s decision four years ago to build the recently shelved Ravensthorpe nickel mine was flawed …
“[Kloppers’] comments came after reports emerged Rio Tinto was in discussions with major shareholder, China’s state-backed aluminium group, Chinalco about a capital injection and asset sales in an effort to pay down some of its $57 billion of debt …
“But Mr. Kloppers was keeping mum on the nature of talks with Rio Tinto over Chile-based Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, of which BHP has 57.5 per cent.”
Source: Base Metals Little Changed
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