SG:Copper dips as LME reopens as nickel at 14 month top
Reuters reported that copper futures on the London Metal Exchange slipped as the bourse reopened after a long holiday weekend, still pressured by worries over Chinese demand amid a slowdown in the world's top user of the industrial metal.
Nickel jumped nearly 2% to its highest level in more than 14 months, supported by supply risks stemming from an Indonesian mineral ore export ban and continuing tensions between Ukraine and major nickel producer Russia.
Fundamentals;
1. Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange eased 0.2% to USD 6,638 per tonne by 0111 GMT, after gaining 1.7% in the two sessions prior to the 4 day Easter weekend.
2. The most traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.2% at CNY 46,580 per tonne.
3. HSBC will release its China flash Purchasing Managers' Index for April on Wednesday.
4. The HSBC PMI has been below 50 since January, suggesting small Chinese manufacturers have been struggling this year amid slower economic growth.
5. China's economy grew 7.4% in the Q1 the slowest pace in six quarters, according to government data released last week.
6. London nickel hit a high of USD 18,260 a tonne, its loftiest since February 18 last year.
7. US and European officials said that they will hold Russia responsible and impose new economic sanctions if pro Moscow separatists do not clear out of government buildings they have occupied across eastern Ukraine over the past two weeks.
8. India's Supreme Court lifted a 19 month old ban on mining in Goa, its top iron ore exporting state, a move that will put more pressure on global prices, although it capped annual output in the state at 20 million tonnes.
9. A senior executive at a Russian state bank said that China may help finance steel and coal producer Mechel's costly Elga coal project in Russia and supply equipment for it in exchange for coal.
10. Goldcorp Inc said it is walking away from its hostile bid to buy Osisko Mining Corp, clearing the way for Yamana Gold Inc and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd to take control of Osisko's flagship Canadian Malartic mine.
11. Japan's crude steel output rose in the fiscal year ended March 31 to the highest in six years on robust construction demand as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushed to revitalise the nation's economy with infrastructure investments and monetary easing.
