Non-ferrous metals prices in the London Metal Exchange (LME) showed mixed sentiments in the last trading session on 24 March, 2023.
Three-month contract prices of aluminum futures inched up by 0.5% to $2,337/t and nickel increased by 4.2%. In contrast, zinc prices inched down by 0.5%, lead inched down by 0.01% and copper futures inched down by 1.2%.
China’s industrial profit falls in Jan-Feb 2023
China’s industrial profit dropped by 22.9% y-o-y to CNY 887.2 billion in the first two months of 2023. It happened because factory activity struggled to recover from the slump caused by pandemic disruptions.
Among the 41 industries surveyed, 28 saw profit falls, namely computer and other electronic equipment with a fall of 77.1%, non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling fell by 57.2%, chemicals industry fell by 56.6%. In similar vein, automobile profit dropped by 41.7%, textile saw negative figure of -37.1%, manufacturing industry was down by 8.9%, and coal mining was down by 2.3%.
India
India’s aluminium scrap prices remained stable amid moderate transactions even as futures rose by 0.65% to $2,341/t. Tense scrap prices stood at INR 161,000/t ($1,948/t), extrusion at INR 176,000/t ($2,130/t), and utensil at INR 170,000/t ($2,057/t), all exy-Delhi. Scrap prices had no impact of the price hike by primary players like Hindalco and Balco, SteelMint observed.
Oil and natural gas prices inch down
Brent oil futures inched up by 0.22% to $75.89 per barrel. Crude oil WTI futures inched down by 0.14% to $69.7 per barrel.
Prices of natural gas were recorded at $2.111/MMBtu at the time of publishing this insight, down by 2.4% as against the last closing.
Dollar index
The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered at 103.17 at the time of publishing this insight. The index remained almost stable against the last session.
The rupee was recorded at 82.40 against the US dollar, almost firm as against the previous closing.
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