Domestic markets of non ferrous metals went up across the board all through last week propelled by the rising international prices. On the global front, metals rose, tracking the equity markets in the beginning of the week and sustained till the end even when equities fizzled out.
Aluminium ingots went up marginally from Rs 92 to Rs 93 in the last one week while utensil scrap was up from Rs 78 to Rs 79. Brass sheet cutting rose marginally from Rs 89 to Rs 90 while utensil scrap firmed up by a rupee to Rs 86 from Rs 85. Heavy scraps of copper was up from Rs 107 to Rs 108.50 while copper utersil scrap was up from Rs 99 to Rs 100.50.
Bars of copper wire also went from Rs 117 to Rs 118 while lead ingots went up from Rs 36 to Rs 38. Nickel cathodes also saw prices rising by Rs 10 from Rs 445 to Rs 455. Tin slabs went up by a rupee to Rs 288 from Rs 287 in the last one week. Zinc slabs also went up marginally to Rs 64.5 from Rs 62.
Despite tracking equity movments, non ferrous metals did not dip on London Metal Exchange (LME) by the end of the week despite the corressponding dip on European equities.
Copper wobbled while aluminium remained steady. Nickel rallied through the week ending a little beyond $ 7000. Tin and zinc both rose along with lead.
Asian lead premium on the LME cash price were mixed with bids emerging from Thailand and Taiwan while aluminium premiums on the LME rose further during the week.
Aluminum premium prices were higher in the far eastern markets as there was a slight squeeze on supply for a delivery in that area. Warrant Indian and Chinese alumimium premiums remained unchanged at $15to $17.
In Taiwan premiums rose to $ 72 to $75 per tonne from $70- $72 a tonne. Production of copper from China was likely to be hit this year due to a shortage of copper concentrate despite capacity increases. Copper output from China is expected to be lower this year or even flat despite a near 20 per cent jump in the first nine months to 1.18 million tonnnes.
Total copper concentrate imports from China are expected to fall from 2.2 million tonnes from 2001 to about 1.6-1.8 million tonnes for this year.
World production of aluminium rose for the month of September indicatiing that prices of aluminium may not recover soon.
The prices have fallen by nearly 2.7 per cent and inventories are the highest in over a decade. Even if the demand situation imporves. gains are likley to be minimal.
