Article content
Most nonferrous metals prices dropped on Monday as investors gauged lackluster Chinese demand outlook and potential chaos in global financial markets following a surprise breakdown in the US debt ceiling negotiations.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.8% to $8,184.50 a tonne by 0322 GMT, while the most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.6% to 64,800 yuan ($9,374.86) a tonne.
Article content
US President Joe Biden and House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet to discuss the debt ceiling later in the day, less than two weeks before the June 1 deadline after which Treasury expects the federal government will struggle to pay its debts.
Article content
A failure to lift the debt ceiling would trigger a default, likely sparking chaos in financial markets and a spike in interest rates.
Meanwhile, demand outlook in top consumer China was bearish across many metals. Players gathered for the first London Metal Exchange seminar and sideline events in Hong Kong since the coronavirus pandemic.
LME aluminum was down 1.1% at $2,257.50 a tonne, zinc declined 1.7% to $2,436 a tonne, tin shed 1.4% to $25,105 a tonne, nickel 0.9% to $21,095 a tonne and lead decreased 0.4% to $2,085 a ton ne.
SHFE aluminum fell 1.4% to 17,970 yuan a tonne, zinc declined 2% to 20,265 yuan a tonne, tin lost 0.7% to 196,370 yuan a tonne, while nickel rose 1.1% to 165,230 yuan a tonne and lead increased 0.2% to 15,385 yuan a tonne.
However, copper prices are supported by low inventories, with stockpiles in SHFE warehouses
Yangshan copper premium
For the top stories in metals and other news, click or
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
1400 EU Consumer Confid. Flash May
($1 = 6.9121 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
financialpost.com