Friday, April 15, 2011

Diversifieds BHP (BHP) (VALE) (RIO) (TCK) (FCX) Trade Mixed

Shares of diversified miners such as BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP), Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), Vale SA (NYSE:VALE), Teck Resources (NYSE:TCK) and Freeport-McMoran (NYSE:FCX) were trading mixed Thursday, metals prices moved in various directions.

In base metals trading, May copper dropped 1.05 cents to settle at $4.284 a pound, July platinum increased $18.40 to $1,795.60 an ounce and June palladium was up $8.95 to $774.25 an ounce. May copper fell 1.05 cents to settle at $4.284 a pound.

Iron ore demand is expected to remain tight over the medium term, and over the long term should jump in response to the rebuilding needs coming from the consequences of the earthquake in Japan.

Gold for June delivery rose $16.80 to settle at $1,472.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Spot gold was up 1.4 percent to $1,474.30 an ounce, closing in on its record $1,476.21 set on Monday. Silver rose $1.427, or 3.6 percent, to $41.66 an ounce.

The collapsing U.S. dollar, tightening in China, sovereign debt crisis in Europe, unrest in the Middle East, increasing inflation and consequences of the Japanese earthquake are just some of the negative catalysts affecting the price movements.

The U.S. dollar was close to session lows, resulting in a further impetus to gold. The U.S. currency traded as low as 74.617, its lowest level since December 2009.

Teck Resources closed Thursday at $52.30, falling $0.59, or 1.12 percent. Rio Tinto closed at $71.70, up $0.04, or 0.06 percent. Vale SA ended the day at $32.65, up $0.64, or 2.01 percent. BHP Billiton closed at $100.42, rising $0.17, or 0.17 percent. Freeport-McMoran closed at $51.93, dropping $0.38, or 0.73 percent.

No comments: