Base metals futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and Shangai Futures Exchange (SHFE) dropped by up to 6% on 15 August. Among all, nickel fell the most by around 6% from the previous session.
Base metals prices showed negative trend as demand worries in China surfaced due to weak economic data.
Also, the property sector consumes a vast amount of metals but according to reports, there is a decline in demand from construction sectors, because of renewed Covid lockdowns in some regions as fresh Covid-19 flare up, reinforcing fears of weakening demand from the property sector in the short term.
Base metals market performance – 15 August
SHFE copper inched up 0.05%, aluminium lost 1.86%, lead and zinc remained almost stable.
LME 3-month copper fell 2.64%, aluminium drop 4.93%, lead up 4.49%, zinc down 0.27% and nickel lower by 6.33%.
Stock levels keep falling
LME warehouse stocks of base metals kept falling on the last trading day by up to 1%. However, nickel stocks remained almost stable, SteelMint notes.
Oil prices decrease
Brent oil futures fell 1.19% to $94 per barrel and crude oil WTI futures decreased to $88 per barrel at the time of reporting.
Currency exchange
The Indian rupee was at 79.36, appreciating slightly by 0.21 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 $106.54 at the time of reporting.
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