London 14/10/2016 - Base metals ended LME trading mixed on Friday, October 14, with copper dropping to its lowest in a month.
The three-month copper price concluded at a one-month low of $4,675 per tonne, down $37 on the previous close. Around 14,000 lots changed hands on Select by the kerb close.
"The current macroeconomic landscape seems far too challenging for copper to advance further. It has given back almost half the gains made in the September rally," Metal Bulletin analyst Andy Farida said.
The metal may struggle to maintain this year's uptrend given concerns over US monetary policy, less appetite by Europe to maintain stimulus programmes and weaker Chinese trade data, a trader said.
In US data this afternoon, core retail sales rose 0.5% in September, above the expected 0.4%, while retail sales were as forecast at 0.6%.
The core PPI and the PPI in September both exceeded predictions at 0.2% and 0.3% respectively. UoM consumer sentiment undershot at 87.9 while preliminary UoM inflation expectations were as expected at 2.4%. Business inventories were worse than forecast at 0.2%.
The US dollar index remains strong at 98.02, up 0.5%.
Elsewhere, the EU trade balance was €23.3 billion ($25.7 billion) - a reading of €20.5 billion had been expected. Meanwhile, the Chinese CPI at 1.9% was stronger than an expected 1.6% while its PPI at 0.1% was also better than the predicted -0.4%.
In today’s warehouse data, copper stocks rose a net 2,925 tonnes to 349,075 tonnes but cancellations rose 10,875 tonnes. More than 32,000 tonnes have been cancelled in Asia since the start of October.
In the other metals, the three-month aluminium price ended at $1,675 per tonne, up $17. Aluminium stocks fell 10,000 tonnes to 2,089,475 tonnes, with the Vlissingen and Singapore totals falling 2,600 tonnes and 2,575 tonnes respectively.
The three-month nickel price ended at $10,485 per tonne, up $55. Nickel stocks climbed 612 tonnes to 360,708 tonnes and cancelled warrants dropped 324 tonnes to 116,244 tonnes.
The three-month zinc price ended at $2,258 per tonne, up $18. Zinc inventories and cancelled warrants were both 375 tonnes lower at 455,900 tonnes and 35,025 tonnes respectively.
The three-month lead price concluded at $1,997/1,998 per tonne, up just $1.50. Lead stocks were unchanged.
The three-month tin price concluded at $19,450 per tonne, down $35. Tin inventories continue to decline, slipping 50 tonnes to a fresh record low of 3,320 tonnes.
The three-month steel price was last quoted at $300/325 per tonne and cobalt and molybdenum at $28,000/28,500 and $15,000/15,500 respectively.
(Additional reporting by Kathleen Retourne, editing by Mark Shaw)