MUMBAI (Commodity Online): Rangebound activities were noted in the India futures exchange lacking major reports due to be released on Wednesday. Non-ferrous metal pack is trading in green in the evening session with support from weakness in Dollar index.
The index was seen trading 75.28 on Wednesday as against 75.25 on Tuesday. Dollar was trading marginally lower against the EURO at 1.4258, down 22 pips.
The declines of housing starts in US and soberness of construction output in Eurozone indicated that the housing markets still need time to refurbish themselves.
In US, the housing starts fell 10.6% to an annual rate of 523000 in April from the revised March estimate of 585000. Eurozone construction activity declined by 0.3% in March and 4.9% on a y-o-y basis. On positive side, the decline of UK unemployment to 7.7% from 7.9% in March appeased the metals.
In a major event, Xstrata announced that its Mount Isa Mine would be phasing out copper smelting at Mount Isa and refining operations in Townsville by the end of 2016. The mine focus will be shifting towards development of copper mining and concentrate production projects.
Speaking on the occasion, Xstrata Copper North Queensland Chief Operating Officer Steve de Kruijff said “Market conditions have been very challenging for copper smelting and refining operations as a result of overcapacity in the global market, low treatment and refining charges and increasing operating and capital costs.
The economic viability of our Mount Isa copper smelting and refining operations has been under increasing pressure for a number of years and cannot be sustained in the long term. We need to evolve our business to ensure we can secure the future of our operations for the long term.”
Xstrata holds mineral resources in Mount Isa that include 587 million tonnes of zinc mineral resources and 416 million tonnes of copper mineral resource.
Activities in Aluminium remained confusing with rise of stockpiles. Another rise of 1325 tonnes in Aluminium was noted today with total stocks on LME at 4711875 tonnes.
Aluminium was seen trading at Rs 113.6 per kg on MCX, up by a meager 0.2%. The prices have so far tested an intra day high of Rs 114.1 per kg on MCX with a low of Rs 112.65 per kg. Charts of the metal look week with near term supports emerging at Rs 109 per kg.
