Industrial metals: Copper and aluminum show weekly declines

Copper rises today to around USD 9,200 per ton, continuing the price recovery that began on Friday. Despite the price increase of a good 2% on Friday, the end result was still a weekly minus of 2.2%. The price increase on Friday was accompanied by a recovery on the stock markets after the sharp declines on the previous days. That this coincides with the holiday-related absence of the markets in China is certainly no coincidence. After all, the news from China in recent weeks gave rather cause for concern. Since the holiday week in China still lasts up to and including Thursday, the recovery could still continue. However, a further appreciation of the US dollar could put a spanner in the works. In contrast to copper, aluminum did not rise on Friday, but left the trading session hardly changed at USD 2,860 per ton. In the end, aluminum was also down 2% for the week. We see the aluminum price well supported for the time being due to the possible impact of electricity rationing in China on aluminum production there. These should at least partially compensate for the negative impact on demand, for example in auto production.

Source: Commerzbank Research, Photo: Fotolia