BLBG:Aluminum Poised for Worst Week Since November as Metals Decline
Aluminum fell, heading for the worst weekly loss in almost 11 months, on concern that slowing economic growth from China to Europe will weaken demand for industrial metals. Copper, nickel and lead also dropped.
Aluminum for delivery in three months slid 0.4 percent to $2,008 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange at 4:02 p.m. in Seoul. The metal has tumbled 4.8 percent this week after Alcoa Inc. (AA), the largest U.S. producer, cited a slowdown in China as a reason for cutting its demand forecast. Copper lost 0.6 percent.
Manufacturing in China, the biggest metals consumer, contracted for a second month in September, while the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts this week, even after central banks from the U.S. to Japan said in September they would do more to boost their economies.
“Stimulus efforts by governments around the globe haven’t translated into real demand yet,” said Park Jong Beom, a senior trader at Tong Yang Securities Inc. “China’s manufacturing slowed and base metals prices may need to fall further until we see a pickup in real demand.”
The wave of higher copper and aluminum demand in China is set to crash by 2014, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report Oct. 10. Copper stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange totaled 162,547 tons in the week to Sept. 27, about 66 percent above a year earlier.
Fourteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said they expect copper prices to drop next week and seven were bullish, with a further 10 neutral.
Copper for December delivery fell 0.4 percent to $3.7365 a pound on the Comex in New York. The metal for January delivery closed unchanged at 58,890 yuan ($9,399) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sungwoo Park in Seoul at spark47@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
