Aluminium and lead joined the rally after those metals also had touched their lowest in more than six years on Monday and nickel skidded to its weakest since 2003. Aluminium closed 1.2 per cent weaker at $US1,450 a tonne after touching $US1,435, the lowest since May 2009.
Advertisement
The dollar index hit an eight-month high, making dollar-priced metals costlier for non-US investors, ahead of an expected U.S. interest rate hike in December, which could further boost the currency.
The fall in zinc prices came despite major Chinese zinc smelters saying they will slash output by 500,000 tonnes next year, nearly a fifth of their output.
Among the reasons for its most recent troubles has been a stronger dollar.
The London Metal Exchange’s three-month copper contract HGZ5, -2.14% was down 2.3% at $4,474 a metric ton in midmorning trade, having slipped below the key $4,500 a ton level for the first time since May 2009. Nickel had slumped on concern about China’s slowing growth, which has weighed on the entire metals complex this year, as well as a poor outlook for its struggling steel sector. LME copper, which sank to a six-year low on Monday, also jumped, ending the day 2.6 per cent stronger at $US4,608 a tonne, while nickel surged 5.7 per cent, the biggest one-day gain since September 2012, to close at $US8,775.
Besides, low demand from domestic industries had a negative impact, they said. Lead rose 0.5 per cent to finish at $US1,594 a tonne while tin was barely changed, edging down 0.03 per cent to $US14,645.
Nickel plunged on Monday despite data showing China’s October imports surged 651 percent year-on-year, with analysts pointing to fears that the metal is going into stockpiles and not being consumed. “The global zinc market is very likely to show a huge supply deficit next year”.
Advertisement
“It seems that for the moment the bears have taken a rest and after yesterday’s sell off, there even seems to be some modest short covering”, Malcolm Freeman, a director of West Malling, England-based brokerage Kingdom Futures Ltd., said in an e-mailed note. BHP fell as much as 2.1 percent to A$19.65, the lowest since November 2005, before trading 1 percent lower.
