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Base metals reversed from Monday’s stronger close on LME trading, starting the week’s Asian trading mostly lower this Tuesday after yesterday’s Mid-Autumn break.
The Chinese trade balance was reported yesterday at 49.8 billion for the month, against a forecasted 40.8 billion. Copper imports declined for a fourth consecutive month in August to 340,000 tonnes.
“China’s record trade surplus on the back of an export surge and import plunge suggested domestic demand remained less than stellar,” said a note from OCBC Bank.
“The falling commodity prices and tight commodity financing are two likely contributing factors behind the slowdown in commodity imports”.
In Europe, Germany’s trade balance came in above expectations at 22.2 billion euros, whilst the EU Sentix investor confidence indicator hit its lowest since July 2013 at -9.8.
The dollar continue to gain against major currencies, remaining near 14-month highs against the euro at 1.2881.
Nickel pushed to close at a fresh two-month high of $19,930, up $370 on Monday. Today’s trade saw the giving back of those gains, putting the metal back around $19,669 per tonne.
The metal has found support on news that the Philippines could implement a ban on ore exports, similar to that of Indonesia.
“A similar sort of shutdown to the one seen in Indonesia would be pretty catastrophic for the Chinese NPI sector, particularly as it has relied on Philippine ore to help try to fill the gap left by the Indonesian ban,” commented Standard Bank’s analyst Leon Westgate.
In the metals, copper remains below $7,000 per tonne, sliding this morning to last at $6,964 from Monday’s $6,990.
“The downside in metals this morning may have been caused by the poor Chinese import data,” a Singapore-based trader said.
Aluminium slid $6 this morning to $2,092, taking support from a continued drawdown in stocks on Monday. Inventories and cancelled warrants were both down 10,150 tonnes at 4,757,900 tonnes and 2,479,700 tonnes respectively.
Zinc at $2,377 is down $13, while lead at $2,192 is down $7. Tin continue to slide to $21,320 from $21,350 on Monday with stocks unchanged at 12,435 tonnes.
The metal is the lowest since January, with the ICDX failing to trade any tin since late August.
“It will be interesting to see what implications this has for September and October exports. For the moment, however, the prospect of reduced tin availability doesn’t appear to be registering with the wider tin market,” Westgate added.
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- [Editor:sunzhichao]
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