Growing copper prices have forced many small and medium domestic copper users to shut down their shops or cut down their activities. |
Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) gained $679.5 in March to $5527.5 per tonne. Surprisingly, inventories also surged 6,650 tonne. |
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Domestically, virgin copper, that is, wire bar rose to Rs 293 per kg from Rs 279 per kg on the March 1 while heavy scrap, armiture, utensil scrap and sheet cutting surged to Rs 275 (Rs 257) a kg, Rs 268 (Rs 251) a kg, Rs 247 (Rs 235) a kg and Rs 261 (Rs 247) a kg respectively. |
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"Domestic copper players are can not afford using copper at such a higher price as the end products users are not mentally ready to pay the proportionately rise in final output price," said Rohit Shah, president, Bombay Metal Exchange. |
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Copper prices crossed the $5500 barrier overnight and set a new record of $5510 per tonne on the news of the breakdown of a concentrator mill at Chile's Collahuasi copper mine. This will result in a production shortfall of 7,000-8,000 metric tonne of contained copper. |
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Meanwhile, continued rally on the LME lifted copper futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange on Friday. The benchmark June 2006 contract jumped CNY1,050 a metric tonne to settle at CNY50,120 per tonne, after hitting an all-time high at CNY50,600 per tonne during the session on short covering. |
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Gold, silver hit new peaks |
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Precious metals like gold and silver are rising dramatically with the fund and institutional buying from the global investors. |
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The price of gold has hit its highest level for 25 years, reaching more than $588 an ounce in morning trade on March 30 on belief that as a sound investment option, precious metals could outperform stocks and bonds. |
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Strong demand in India and China, coupled with declining gold output in South Africa "� a key bullion producer - has stirred the shortage and is maintaining high prices. |
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Precious metals like gold, silver and platinum are appealing to investors who are concerned over unpredictable conditions in West Asia, dollar instability and inflation, an analyst said. |
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In India, standard gold prices surged an all time high at Rs 8,490 per 10 gm, a gain of Rs 290 while pure gold (.999) lifted to Rs 8,530 per 10 gm, a gain of Rs 290, on Friday. In all, the yellow metal surged Rs 385 (standard gold) and Rs 380 (pure gold) in March. |
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Silver, too, saw its highest level in 22 years, while platinum reached an all-time high of $1,095 an ounce. Spot silver closed at Rs 17,405 per kg as against Rs 13,770 a kg on March 1. |
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