London 27/07/2016 - Base metals came under late liquidation pressure on the LME on Wednesday, with most falling to their lowest for a couple of weeks - a batch of sub-par US economic statistics undermined the intraday mood.
Copper, lead and zinc all fell to two-week lows while the already-fragile aluminium market touched six-week lows.
Today's session was marked by caution ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy meeting, traders said. Interest rates are largely expected to stay unchanged but the meeting will be closely watched for more clues for direction.
This week has seen little evidence of fresh buying interest; instead, a drifting tendency has emerged.
"It has been a watching and waiting week thus far and today is the same. We get a run-up, then a pause, but the feeling is that the markets have the potential to move higher," a trader said.
In the US data releases this afternoon, June core durable goods orders were down 0.5 percent against a forecast 0.3-percent increase. Pending home sales in June rose 0.2 percent, below the anticipated 1.9-percent gain.
In other financial markets, there was little to generate knock-on interest in the metals complex. The dollar was hardly moving against the euro at around 1.0990 while the UK FTSE and US Dow Jones indices were mixed - the UK market was up just 0.3 percent while the US bourse was flat.
After tonight's FOMC news, the market will look towards Friday's US GDP data, while Chinese PMI manufacturing data will be issued early next week.
In the metals, copper dipped back under $4,900, dropping as low as $4,842 before last trade at $4,852 per tonne, a $78 loss from the Tuesday close. This morning warehouse stocks rose a net 700 tonnes to 214,425 tonnes while cancelled warrants fell 5,275 tonnes to 72,775 tonnes.
Aluminium was unable to regain the $1,600 level and, after hitting a low of $1,588, concluded the day at an unchanged $1,592. The metal is being pressured lower by stock increases in LME-registered warehouses in Asia and talk of more to come.
Today, stocks fell 6,000 tonnes to 2,318,125 tonnes and cancelled warrants surged 24,875 tonnes to 950,375 tonnes - a move centred on Vlissingen.
Nickel was last at $10,355, up just $5, although stocks rose 1,038 tonnes to 374,652 tonnes. Zinc suffered from stop-loss sales under $2,200, finally trading at $2,176, a $53 loss, while stocks and cancelled warrants both fell 1,000 tonnes to 435,600 tonnes and 18,850 tonnes respectively.
Lead's decline was marked by a negative sub-$1,800 chart close - last trade was at $1,799, down $34. Stocks had earlier fallen 75 tonnes to 187,150 tonnes.
But tin ignored the overall trend, ending at $17,700, up $25, while stocks were unchanged at 5,710 tonnes. Steel billet was quoted at $300/325, cobalt a 2016 best of $25,250/25,750 and molybdenum at $14,000/15,000.
(Additional reporting by Ewa Manthey, editing by Mark Shaw)