Industrial metals capture attention

First Call: Industrial metals capture attention

THE eyes of the mining world might be focused on Kalgoorlie’s gold-heavy Diggers & Dealers conference, but it is industrial metals that captured the world’s attention overnight.

• Haydn Black
• 02 Aug 2016
• 6:38

The winners were industrial metals, with zinc up 1% to $2267 per tonne and nickel up 0.99% to $10,735/t as inventories continue to fall.

According to ANZ Bank, investors seemed to take a positive view of a series of Purchasing Manager’s Index reports in China showing conflicting states of the manufacturing sector, while real estate data out of the Asian nation shows developments are again on the rise.

In fact copper, zinc and nickel are pointing to tighter supplies, Commerzbank said in a report last week, although copper was down 0.87% to $4882/t.

	Commodity	Month	Last	Prev.	High	Low	Chg.	Chg. %	Time
1		Aluminum		1,633.25	1,633.25	1,660.75	1,628.50	-6.00	-0.37%	16:55:02
2		Copper		4,873.00	4,873.00	4,964.50	4,866.25	-45.25	-0.92%	17:59:01
3		Copper	Sep 16	2.193	2.195	2.194	2.192	-0.002	-0.09%	22:40:19
4		Gold	Dec 16	1,360.85	1,359.80	1,361.05	1,359.95	+1.05	+0.08%	22:59:01
5		Lead		1,824.00	1,824.00	1,849.00	1,821.25	-2.75	-0.15%	17:58:23
6		Nickel		10,730.00	10,730.00	10,797.50	10,620.00	+92.50	+0.87%	17:58:33
7		Palladium	Sep 16	717.38	717.15	717.75	716.20	+0.23	+0.03%	22:55:57
8		Platinum	Oct 16	1,162.95	1,163.60	1,162.95	1,161.85	-0.65	-0.06%	22:33:20
9		Silver	Sep 16	20.523	20.490	20.530	20.508	+0.033	+0.16%	22:56:42
10		Tin		17,855.00	17,855.00	17,972.50	17,785.00	+27.50	+0.15%	17:58:58
11		Zinc		2,264.00	2,264.00	2,279.75	2,259.25	+20.00	+0.89%	16:54: