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LME ASIAN WRAP: Copper retreats over concerns at China appetite

February 06, 2012 - 02:48 GMT Location: Shanghai

KEYWORDS: London Metal Exchange , copper , aluminium , lead , zinc , nickel , tin , price

London Metal Exchange copper retreated as market participants questioned whether Chinese demand could support the US employment data-driven rally.

By 02:35 GMT, three-month copper stood at $8,545 per tonne, down $4 from its open after reaching as high as $8,570.5 per tonne. SHFE April copper stood at 60,730 yuan ($9,639) per tonne, down 0.2% from opening and 1.6% higher from last Friday’s settlement. “A drop in the US unemployment rate reflects the continuing improvement...

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Aluminium

May 24, 2012 13:48 Base metal prices stable in LME officials as euro plateaus
May 24, 2012 12:20 Constellium signs multi-year, $2bn supply agreement
May 24, 2012 11:25 Shanghai copper price little changed; arbitrage gap narrows
May 24, 2012 10:15 Base metals prices fall in LME pre-market in the wake of listing eurozone
May 24, 2012 08:22 SHFE vs LME arbitrage: copper, aluminium, zinc

Lead & Zinc

May 24, 2012 13:48 Base metal prices stable in LME officials as euro plateaus
May 24, 2012 12:08 Brazilian zinc consumption will grow 6% in 2013
May 24, 2012 11:25 Shanghai copper price little changed; arbitrage gap narrows
May 24, 2012 10:15 Base metals prices fall in LME pre-market in the wake of listing eurozone
May 24, 2012 08:22 SHFE vs LME arbitrage: copper, aluminium, zinc

Copper

May 24, 2012 13:48 Base metal prices stable in LME officials as euro plateaus
May 24, 2012 11:32 CAML launches one plant; looking into launching another
May 24, 2012 11:25 Shanghai copper price little changed; arbitrage gap narrows
May 24, 2012 11:23 Xstrata Copper bets on China demand in second half
May 24, 2012 10:15 Base metals prices fall in LME pre-market in the wake of listing eurozone

Nickel & Tin

May 24, 2012 13:48 Base metal prices stable in LME officials as euro plateaus
May 24, 2012 10:15 Base metals prices fall in LME pre-market in the wake of listing eurozone
May 24, 2012 05:50 Trafigura will move to Singapore this year
May 24, 2012 03:57 LME ASIAN WRAP: Copper prices see small lift from US data
May 24, 2012 00:15 PolyMet expects review by 1st qtr.

Comment & analysis

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Seven days is a long time in the investment world, but last week must have felt longer than most.
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BHP Billiton is one of the poster children for the commodities super-cycle: a mining company whose immense upstream assets in copper and iron ore have fed the industrialisation of China since the early years of the 21st century and enabled it to return $52 billion to shareholders between 2001 and 2011.
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So, here we go again. Another bank, another huge trade gone bad. This one doesn’t even appear to have been a case of rogue trading; a whole desk seems to have been operating with the full knowledge of the management and/or risk committee.