Base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) closed mostly with gains on the last trading day while the same trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME) exhibited a mixed trend as nickel, aluminium and zinc were up but copper and lead were down.
The supply-and-demand worries amid an energy crisis in Europe and China lent some support to the market against the backdrop of reduced stocks.
China’s Sichuan province will likely extend curbs on industrial power consumers until this week as it tries to deal with decreasing hydropower output and surging household electricity demand following a long heatwave, as per reports.
On the other hand, the People’s Bank of China has cut its five-year loan prime rate by 15 basis points to 4.30% from 4.45%, and lowered its one-year loan prime rate by 5 basis points to 3.65% recently in order to support the country’s economy and stabliise the ailing market.
Base metals market performance – 22 August
SHFE copper rose 0.19%, aluminium dipped 0.16%, lead gained 0.07%, and zinc added 1.15%.
LME 3-month copper was slightly down by 0.63%, aluminium rose 0.17%, lead down 1.42%, zinc rose 0.29% and nickel up by 0.38%.
MCX aluminium and nickel remained almost stable, copper up 0.34%, zinc up 0.15% d-o-d.
Stock levels fall marginally d-o-d
LME registered warehouse stocks of base metals fell by up to 1% d-o-d with copper falling the most by 1.01% followed by lead.
Oil prices up slightly
Brent oil futures rose slightly by 1.05% to $95.08 per barrel and crude oil WTI futures increased 0.50% to $97 per barrel at the time of reporting.
Currency exchange
The Indian rupee hovered at around 79.88 against the US dollar, close to the 80-mark. The dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered at around $109.12 at the time of reporting.
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