Base metals exhibit volatility on fluctuating stocks

Base metals on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) closed on a volatile note on the last trading day.

Notably, stocks at LME-registered warehouses fluctuated with aluminium stocks rising sharply by 11% on d-o-d basis. On the other hand, warehouse stocks in European region declined because of lower capacity utilisation, thus, limited scope of any further price  decline.

With UK's new prime minister Liz Truss vowing to press ahead with promised tax cuts and action to tackle economy, it is noted that the currency fluctuations will continue for near term, resulting in depreciation in pound's value. However, the affect of it may not be visible in scrap offers because of low accumulation rate, SteelMint observed.

Base metals market performance - 6 September

SHFE copper gained 0.53%, aluminium fell 0.57%, lead added 0.23%, and zinc fell 0.76%.

Three-month copper on LME inched up by 0.39%, nickel rose 0.54%, aluminium down 1.09%, zinc decreased by 0.97%, and lead rose by 0.96%.

On the other hand, MCX aluminium down by 1.46%, nickel rose 2.68%, lead rose 0.71%, copper edged up 0.11%, and zinc edged down 0.73%.

Stock levels down

Stocks at LME-registered warehouses fell by up to 2.26% d-o-d on the last session. However, aluminium stocks were increased sharply by 11.31%.

Oil prices edge down

Brent oil futures decreased by 4% to $91 per barrel and crude oil WTI future fell 4.12% to $86 per barrel d-o-d at the time of reporting.

The concerns over sluggish demand for crude oil outweighed what was seen as a nominal supply cut by the OPEC+ recently.

Currency exchange

The Indian rupee was traded at 79.93, depreciating slightly by 0.6 paise against the greenback at the time of reporting.

In addition, the dollar index, which gauges the value of the dollar in a basket of six different currencies, hovered around $110.50, up marginally by 0.25% against the last session.