Gold, copper price jumps spark major mining stocks rally
Feeding frenzy
resurgent copper price saw investors returning to the biggest names in mining on Wednesday with the world's top listed producer of the red metal leading the charge.
In mid-day New York trade on Wednesday copper for delivery in July jumped 3.8% exchanging hands for $2.1190 a pound ($4,672 a tonne) as it recovers from four-month lows hit last week. Copper is now also back to breakeven for the year although it's still underperforming almost all other commodities in 2016.
The gold price touched the $1,300-mark for the first time since the beginning of May following a dovish Federal Reserve statement on interest rates that sent the dollar lower. The metal is now trading 22.6% or $240 an ounce for the better this year.
Iron ore declined but held above $50 a tonne on Wednesday according to data from The SteelIndex. The iron ore price is up 17% this year defying expectations of a steep decline amid weak fundamentals.
Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), which vies with Chile's state-owned Codelco as the world's number one copper miner in terms of output, was the best performer on the day, rocketing 9.5%.
Volumes were huge with more than 40 million shares changing hands by lunchtime making it the second most actively traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The Phoenix-based company is now worth $13.7 billion after rising 65.4% since the start of the year.
TLM Price at posting:
37.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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