Industrial metals prices hit three-week peaks yesterday as Chinese buying and falling stockpiles extended metals run-up for a thirdstraight day.
IN FOCUS
- Miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday on higher metal prices and said its order books were filling despite weakness in the U.S. economy.
- Europe's largest copper smelter Aurubis said it expected to restart copper concentrate smelting at its main Hamburg plant late on Wednesday after an accident stopped work last week. About 2,000 to 2,500 tonnes of copper output would be lost because of the accident, a company spokeswoman said.
- World refined copper consumption exceeded production by 67,000 tonnes between January and April this year, against a surplus of 74,000 tonnes in the same year-ago period, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said on Wednesday in its latest monthly bulletin.
- Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde SAA is expected to increase copper production to 120,000 metric tons per day, from 108,000 tons per day, by the end of the year.
- Production of copper at the Tenke Fungurume copper mine in Congo is expected to rise by 16% in 2011 from current levels, according to its majority owner Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold.
FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK
Industrial metals prices are trading weak on international bourses today. We expect industrial metals prices to fall prey to some profit-taking after yesterday's rally as the existing home sales data due to be released by the US this evening are not in favor of the metal. But any major dip can be used as a good buying opportunity as physical demand for industrial metals is still very strong.
