Copper at Two-Week Low on Ukraine to Israel Escalatio. By Maria Kolesnikova Jul 18, 2014 1:09 PM GMT+0300 Copper fell to the lowest in more than two weeks in London as equities dropped after a Malaysian airliner was shot down over Ukraine and Israeli troops moved into Gaza. Nickel declined the most in eight weeks. Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the downing of the jet that killed 298 people, and the UN Security Council will meet later today on the incident. Israeli forces moved into the Gaza Strip. European stocks fell and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index held near the highest in almost a month. “For the moment, stock moves and fundamentals will take second place to the worsening geopolitical situation,” Mark Newson-Smith, head of metal sales at Xconnect Trading Ltd., said by e-mail today. “Equities will be under pressure and sentiment poor so liquidation is likely in the short term.” Copper for delivery in three months fell 0.6 percent to $7,023.50 a metric ton by 10:42 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange. It touched $7,005.25, the lowest price since July 2, and was headed for its first weekly decline in five. The metal has dropped 1.9 percent this week and is down 4.6 percent this year, the most among the six main metals on the LME. Futures for delivery in September slid 0.7 percent to $3.1985 a pound on the Comex in New York. Futures trading volume was 13 percent lower than the average for the past 100 days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nickel dropped as much as 3.5 percent to $18,537 a ton, the most since May 20, before trading at $18,800 a ton. The metal may be declining more than others because investor positioning is more extreme, Newson-Smith said. Investors are long industrial metals except tin, with bets on higher prices for nickel accounting for 34 percent of open interest as of July 11, according to Marex Spectron. Nickel stockpiles monitored by the LME rose 0.1 percent as of today to a record 311,088 tons, daily exchange figures showed. Risk Off “There appear to be a combination of reasons as to why the market wants to take some risk off into the weekend, not least because of the Malaysian Airlines attack and the invasion of Gaza raising geopolitical tensions,” said Dee Perera, an analyst at Marex Spectron in London. “China house price growth slowing could also be a factor.” Prices fell in 55 of the 70 cities across China last month from May, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, the most since January 2011 when the government changed the way it compiles the statistics. Huatong Road & Bridge Group Co. said it may fail to make a payment next week, heightening speculation China faces what would be the second default in its onshore bond market. Foreign and local banks are reexamining loans linked to metals at Qingdao port amid concerns lending risks are rising in China, where traders pledge commodities as collateral for financing. Copper stockpiles monitored by the LME fell 0.6 percent to 157,700 tons, daily figures showed. Orders to remove the metal from warehouses rose 6 percent to 40,600 tons. Aluminum, zinc and tin also fell in London. Lead was little changed.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 12:18:23 +0000
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