Base metals rallied by the end of kerb trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME) on Thursday as investors nudged prices back towards the highs, traders said. "All the metals are looking good after last week's correction. A few longs have been pushed out and technically, if we can hold here tomorrow, we could go a lot higher," one LME trader said. "I think we could see copper at $3,500 a tonne and aluminium at $2,100 next month, but later in the year we will see a sharp move downwards," he added.
Barclays Capital analyst Ingrid Sternby said: "I think we will see the market peak in the second quarter. There is usually an increase in demand then, and I also believe Chinese buying will pick up."
Three-months copper was at $3,211 by the close, up from $3,202 on Wednesday and eyeing a 16-year high of $3,270 set on Monday and the all-time high at $3,280 hit in 1989.
Copper stocks in the LME's warehouses world-wide, down 200 tonnes at 50,575 tonnes on Thursday, are about 18 percent of their levels a year ago.
Analysts said drawdowns were expected to continue and stocks would test recent lows around 43,000 tonnes.
The cash/threes spread widened to $135/140 backwardation.
Nickel climbed 3.5 percent to $16,200 from $15,525 on CTA (Commodity Trading Advisor) buying and low stocks.
"There is some speculative buying around. We took out yesterday's high, which forced the shorts out, and the next target is $16,300," a second trader said.
Aluminium rose $32 to $1,944, and lead climbed $6 to $955.
Aluminium hit a 10-year peak of $1,987 late last month.
Zinc, at $1,399, was just $17 away from a cyclical peak after rising $19.
In the plastics market, September over the counter (OTC) polypropylene (PP) was at $1,200/1,260 a tonne, down $20, while September polyethylene (LLDPE) was at $1,220/1,280, a $30 decline, on Semprametals.com.
Comments
Comments are closed.