Base metals prices on all major exchanges showed largely negative trends in the last session due to volatile market sentiments.
London Metal Exchange’s (LME’s) three-months prices closed on a mixed note. Aluminium fell by 1.1%, zinc dropped by 0.4%, lead increased by 0.9%, copper inched down by 0.5%, whereas nickel fell by 0.4%.
Shanghai copper lost 0.14%, aluminium fell 1.35%, lead slid 1.55%, zinc edged down by 0.02%, tin shed 0.2%, and nickel climbed 0.5%.
Indonesia’s inflation rate up
Indonesia’s inflation rose slightly in December, official data shows. The year-on-year (y-o-y) inflation rate in December 2022 was 5.51%, with a Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 113.59. Electricity and Household Fuel Subgroup had the highest y-o-y inflation of 6.24%.
The headline annual inflation rate picked up m-o-m too to 5.51% in December, compared with 5.42% in November.
China manufacturing weakens amid Covid surge
Chinese manufacturing contracted in December in the biggest drop since early 2020, as the country battles a nationwide COVID-19 surge. The monthly purchasing managers’ index declined to 47.0 from 48.0 in November 2022.
The purchasing managers’ index for China’s non-manufacturing sector also fell to 41.6 in December, down from 46.7 in November 2022.
India’s manufacturing output rises
The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 57.8 in December from November’s 55.7. This reading is the highest since October 2020 and above the 50-mark. With business conditions improving to the highest level over the past two years, Indian manufacturers scaled up production and the upturn in output was sharp, in fact the best since November 2021.
LME’s stock levels mixed
Base metals stocks at LME-registered warehouses decreased by up to 5.3% in the last session today. However, copper and nickel was up by 3.4%.
Oil prices up
Brent oil futures was up 2% at $85.91 per barrel, while crude oil WTI futures was up by 2% at $80 per barrel at the time of publishing this report.
Dollar index
The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered around 103.49 at the time of publishing this report, and was down marginally by 0.03% against the last session.
The rupee was recorded at 82.58 against the US dollar, appreciating 0.20 paise against the previous closing.
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