Malaysian tin rose $40 a tonne on Monday as players kept a nervous watch over depleting stocks of tin concentrates amid strong Japanese buying.
Spot tin on the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) rose to $9,350 a tonne on a volume of 100 tonnes.
It had jumped $50 on Friday, after transaction of 130 tonnes. "There's not much prospect for tin stocks to go up because consumption is growing faster than production," said a trader.
Tin stocks in both Kuala Lumpur and London have tightened considerably over the last year, resulting in multi-year highs in the metal's price in both markets. Tin stocks on the London Metal Exchange currently stand at around 3,500 tonnes, versus 6,000 tonnes just a month ago.
On Thursday, LME's tin price rose $95 to $9,070 a tonne. Japanese buyers, the biggest foreign interests on the KLTM, joined local bidders to pitch for 105 tonnes at the outset of Monday's market.
Sellers offered 60 tonnes. The two sides eventually struck a match at 100 tonnes. Dealers said the smaller rise on the KLTM versus the LME narrowed the premium for shipping a tonne of Malaysian tin to Europe, including freight and other costs, to $505 from $560 on Friday.

Copyright Reuters, 2004

Comments

Comments are closed.