Commodity News
HeadLine : Copper, aluminium slump as virus spreads, threatening demand
Date : Mar 9 2020
Prices of copper, aluminium and other industrial metals slumped on Friday as the coronavirus outbreak extended outside China, threatening to crimp economic growth and metals consumption. The number of people infected with coronavirus worldwide surpassed 100,000 on Friday as the outbreak reached more countries and the economic damage intensified. Business districts began to empty and stock markets tumbled. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange shed 1.2% in final open-outcry activity to $5,607 a tonne. Prices of the metal widely used in power and construction have shed 11% since mid-January. The most active aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) touched its lowest in 41 months, dropping as much as 0.8% to 13,020 yuan ($1,872.14) a tonne. Inventories of metal in China piled up this week, underscoring persistent sluggish demand in the world’s top metals consumer amid the coronavirus outbreak.  LME inventories of nickel climbed to 236,106 tonnes, the highest since September 2018, having more than tripled since early December last year.

Source : Reuters
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