Base metals (zinc, aluminium, nickel) futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME) moved up by up to 3% on 16 August. Among all, zinc rose the most by 3.06% from the previous session, however, lead and copper were slightly down. Base metals on the Shangai Futures Exchange (SHFE) also closed mostly with gains by up to 3.13%.
India’s WPI data for July
Wholesale Price Index (WPI) represents the price of goods at a wholesale stage i.e. goods that are sold in bulk and traded between organisations instead of consumers. WPI is used as a measure of inflation in some economies including India.
India’s wholesale inflation eased to 13.93% in July from 15.98% in June, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed.
Inflation in July was primarily contributed by the rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum and natural gas, basic metals, electricity, chemicals and chemical products, food products etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” the commerce ministry statement said.
Base metals market performance – 16 August
LME 3-month copper remained stable, aluminium rise 0.08%, lead down 0.69%, zinc up 3.06% and nickel up by 1%.
SHFE copper inched up 0.55%, aluminium rose 2.14%, lead added 0.7%, and zinc gained 3.13%.
MCX August month aluminium futures dropped 1.27%, copper down by 1.39%, lead down by 0.70%, and zinc up by 0.83% yesterday as against last trading day.
Stock levels fluctuate
LME registered warehouse stocks of base metals fluctuated d-o-d with zinc gaining by 1.31%, and copper reducing by 0.82%.
Oil prices on downtrend
Brent oil futures fell 0.47% to $91 per barrel and crude oil WTI futures decreased to $86 per barrel at the time of reporting, weighed by concerns over slowing Chinese economic growth as well as raised potential for increased supply from both Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Currency exchange
The Indian rupee was at 79.44, depreciating slightly by 0.08 paise against the US dollar. The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in relation to a basket of six different currencies, hovered at around $106.7 at the time of reporting.
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