Industrial metals prices settled up near their session highs on Thursday, buoyed by upbeat equities and economic optimism reflected in positive jobs data, but lingering concerns about debt sustainability in the euro zone capped the upside.
IN FOCUS
- KME Group, one of the world's leading makers of copper and copper alloy products, said that its 2009 output fell 23 percent in 2009 due to the global economic crisis, and that demand remained weak. Milan-listed KME said its output of semifinished copper, copper alloy and special products fell to 437,000 tonnes in 2009 from 571,000 tonnes in 2008.
- Japan's output of rolled copper products almost doubled in February from a year earlier, mainly due to last year's plunge amid the global recession, preliminary industry data showed on Thursday.
- A local Russian court has ruled in favour of suspending zinc production at Elektrotsink, a smelter supplying about 40 percent of Russia's zinc, pending an environmental clean-up, news agencies reported on Thursday.
- Indonesian mining firm Aneka Tambang is looking to initially procure one million tonnes of nickel a year from PT International Nickel Indonesia (INCO) under a supply contract.
- Zinc imports by China may slump almost 60 percent this year as domestic production increases, said a CBI China Co analyst. Imports may decline to 278,000 tons from 670,000 tons in 2009, Monica Gao said at a conference in Shenzhen on Thursday. Real demand may be 4.69 million tons, gaining from an estimated 4.25 million tons last year, she said.
FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK
Industrial metals prices are trading firm on International bourses. We expect Industrial metals prices to edge higher during the day as expectation of robust US GDP numbers and declining warehouse stocks is like to support prices.
