LME Market Report: Aluminium Zinc Leads Up, Base Metal Follows Up

LONDON, March 9: The London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminum hit a 10-year high before the market closed on Wednesday, and zinc also hit a fresh seven-and-a-half year high, supported by fund buying and weaker US dollar. Both are strong. The uptrend also brought other base metals out of the day low. The three-month aluminum closed at 2,002 US dollars per ton, which rose by 15 dollars from Tuesday night's London Composite Market trading, and earlier it briefly touched 2,007 US dollars, rising to 2,155 in February 1995. The high point of the three-month zinc closed at $17 higher at $1,430 per ton, earlier hitting a seven-and-a-half year high of $1,437. "Aluminium was pushed higher by buying, as its technical picture looks very favorable, Aluminum futures closed above $2,000 may attract new capital inflows." A LME trader said, "The zinc trend looks good, and the demand for both base metals is good." Analysts said that the strong fundamentals encourage In the next period, the prices of aluminum and zinc futures will strengthen this year. In the last year when metal prices rose sharply, the performance of these two companies lags behind. Dealers said that the decline in LME aluminum stocks also provided support to the market. LME aluminum stocks decreased 5,250 tons to 574,875 tons compared to 2004 1 The 1.45 million tons fell by nearly two-thirds, of which about 20% of the stock, 116,150 tons, will be used for delivery. The dollar/euro hit a two-month low, which is less than 0.03 cents from the record low set in December last year. Because investors will usher in U.S. trade data that may have a negative impact on the U.S. dollar on Friday, three-month copper closed up 5 U.S. dollars at 3,275 U.S. dollars per tonne, having fallen below 3,230 previously. LME Select on LME Electronic Trading Platform, Tuesday Copper Touched a high of $3,300, the highest point in the in-trading trade was 3,297. Copper has risen about 14% since the beginning of the year as investors bet on strong demand and tight supply. Despite rising to record highs, analysts The closing of Wednesday's close of $3,280 may trigger a profit settlement. "The second day (close below 3,280) may convince the fund that the charts are concerned that they should start selling... may wish to lower their prices and wait for an opportunity to reappear at around 3,200. Buy,” said London Standard Bank Barr. He expects a solid downside support below 3,200. As major industry players expect production to increase in the second half of this year, some feel that the copper market has become increasingly vulnerable. It is vulnerable to the impact of fund selling. Preliminary data released by the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) show that in 2004, the consumption of refined copper in the world was 706,000 tons more than that of production, while in 2003 it was a shortage of 386,000 tons. Three-month nickel fell by $130 to close at 16,100. Three-month lead ended down $3 to 975. Three-month tin traded unchanged at $8,450/8,500/ton. Source: Reuters