Non-ferrous metals prices saw fluctuating trends on all major commodity exchanges in the last trading session.
Most importantly, the rise in the US dollar has put pressure on metals prices.
Market performance
Three-month contract prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) showed an upward trend. Aluminium prices increased by 1%, zinc down by 0.6%, lead decreased by 1.5%, copper down 0.9%, and nickel up by 1.6%.
SHFE copper lost 0.29%, aluminium rose 0.27%, lead grew 0.29%, and zinc dropped by 0.52%. The market will now face a weak demand ahead of Chinese New Year holiday.
On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), futures prices showed a mixed trend. Nickel decreased by 3.3% to INR 2,263/kg, lead edged up by 0.9% to INR 192/kg, copper edged down by 0.8% and was at INR 765/kg, aluminium edged up by 1% to INR 221/kg, and zinc fell by 0.6% to INR 286.8/kg.
India
India’s domestic aluminium scrap prices (of all grades) showed an uptick yesterday. The price hike by primary players has not fully reflected in scrap prices till now. On the supply side, the availability of tense scrap was still tight, shared market sources.
On the other hand, Indian copper prices increased by up to INR 16,000/t d-o-d on an active trade yesterday. Current levels are at a 7-month high. Meanwhile, there are some sellers who have held back stocks on the hope of more price hikes.
India’s WPI inflation falls m-o-m in Dec’22
The wholesale price-based inflation declined to 4.95% in December 2022, mainly due to a fall in prices of food. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was 5.85% in November, 2022, as per latest report.
Brent oil futures fell by 0.50% to $84.65 per barrel while crude oil WTI futures rose by 1% to $79.26 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 at 102.32 at the time of publishing this report, up by 0.11% against the opening session.
The rupee was recorded at 81.80 against the US dollar, depreciating by 0.44 paise against the previous closing.
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