Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Diversified Miners (RIO) (TCK) (VALE) (BHP) Close Down as Base Metals Drop

Base metals dropped in Monday trading putting pressure on diversified mining giants Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP), Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) and Teck Resources, (NYSE:TCK), which all closed down.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dropped to $9,207 a ton, its lowest since March 17. It closed at $9,225 a ton from Friday's close at $9,450.

Stocks of copper in LME warehouses last rose 1,350 tons to 451,775 tons, their highest since June 2010.

Also weighing on metals, the U.S. dollar was stronger against a basket of major currencies, weakening metals demand from non-U.S. investors. European equities were down on increased talk that Greece will be forced to restructure its debt and uncertainty over a bailout for Portugal which dampened risk appetite.

Aluminium closed $2,674 from $2,690 a ton.

Zinc ended at $2,325 from $2,398 a ton. Stocks of the metal rose 50 tons to a seven-year high of 764,300 tons.

Battery material lead was down close to five percent to its lowest in over a month at $2,520 a ton. It closed at $2,528 from $2,651 a ton, while tin finished at $32,350 from $33,100 a ton and nickel ended at $25,500 a ton from $26,155.

Platinum was lower by 0.2 percent at $1,779.99 an ounce, while palladium fell 3.3 percent to $735.22.

BHP closed Monday at $97.98, falling $1.82, or 1.82 percent. Rio Tinto closed at $69.09, down $1.82, or 2.57 percent. Teck Resources ended the session at $50.68, losing $1.26, or 2.43 percent. Vale closed at $32.05, dropping $0.73, or 2.23 percent.

No comments: