Aluminum on Friday gave up its gains after Thursday’s record surge, with the London Metal Exchange’s (LME) plan to discuss a potential ban on Russian metal exacerbating supply concerns while stimulus measures in China bolstered the demand outlook.
Aluminum slipped as much as 2.7 percent, the most in a week, following a record 8.5 percent intraday gain the prior session after Bloomberg reported the bourse plans to launch a discussion paper on whether and under what circumstances it should block new supplies of Russian metal from being delivered to its network of warehouses.
Most other metals pared early gains on Friday, with zinc gaining as China stepped up measures to support its embattled property sector. The People’s Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission recently told the country’s six largest banks to each offer at least 100 billion yuan (US$14 billion) of financing support in any form including mortgages, loans to developers and purchases of their bonds, people familiar with the matter said.
Any move by the LME to block Russian supplies could have significant ramifications for the global metals markets, as the country is also a major producer of vital materials including nickel and copper.
The biggest impact would be on aluminum, as about half of Europe’s smelting capacity already has been curtailed due to record electricity costs in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A ban would likely lead to increased trading volatility, after the metal was caught in the past few3 weeks in a heavy sell-off as global recession fears mounted.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc downplayed the likelihood of such a ban and said the pressure on metals prices would continue, “given the current environment of physical demand weakness in Europe.”
The geopolitical situation does not incentivize delisting Russian metals from the exchange, analysts, including Nicholas Snowdon, said in a note on Thursday.
Meanwhile, speaking to the demand outlook for industrial metals including copper, China’s factory activity continued to struggle last month, as the country’s economic recovery was challenged by lockdowns in major cities and a property market downturn.
Aluminum was 1.6 percent lower to settle at US$2,162 per tonne on the LME. The metal recorded a fifth weekly loss.
Gold for December delivery rose US$3.40 to US$1,672 per ounce, while silver for December delivery rose US$0.33 to US$19.04 per ounce and December copper fell US$0.1 to US$3.41 per pound.
Additional reporting by AP
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS