LME Copper Inventory Surges on “Old Tricks” - 6 July 2017

Gold positive as investors await fed minutes.  

Gold prices moved into positive territory on Wednesday, benefiting from a tick lower in both U.S. bond yields and the dollar, as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of Federal Reserve’s minutes from its June meeting. Gold bounced off session lows, after both the dollar and U.S. 10-Year eased, following the release of downbeat economic data, fuelling concerns about the pace of U.S economic growth. The Federal Reserve has previously signaled its intention to raise rates at least once more this year, after hiking rates for the second time this year in June. Analysts, however, are expecting the minutes to show that Fed members are less hawkish about monetary policy tightening in the wake of a slowdown in inflation. Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said they “expect the minutes from the June FOMC meeting to sound more cautious than the statement or press conference as it will likely show differing views on inflation.”  

   

SMM Analysis: LME Copper Inventory Surges on “Old Tricks”?.  

LME copper inventories increased 40,325 tonnes to 315,925 tonnes on July 5, the peak from late May. Busan and Kaohsiung witnessed the biggest growth, SMM reported. LME copper inventories had been falling previously as canceled warrants jumped, but actually, the decline in SHFE and LME copper inventories is not driven by consumption, SMM copper analyst said.   

Chalco Continues Raising Aluminum Prices in Major Markets.   

China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) further hiked aluminum prices it offered in major markets today after yesterday’s hike. SMM learned that almost all local wire drawing plants and triphase wire plants that have no production licenses have closed.      

Oil falls, ending bull run, on rising OPEC exports and dollar. 

Oil prices retreated about 4 percent on Wednesday, ending their longest bull-run in more than five years, as climbing OPEC exports and a stronger dollar turned sentiment more bearish. Brent crude futures ended the session down $1.82, or 3.7 percent, at $47.79 a barrel. Prices had climbed for eight straight sessions to Monday. Nigeria and Libya are both exempt from the output pact. Russia, which led other non-OPEC producers to join the deal, would oppose any proposal for deeper cuts at the OPEC’s ministerial meeting later this month, Bloomberg cited four Russian government officials as saying. Investors' hopes of deeper production cuts were dashed, after a Bloomberg report said that Russia doesn’t want to change the current deal because any further supply curbs would send the wrong message to the market, according to government officials.