Weak Chinese stock markets and firm US dollar weaken metal prices

Weak Chinese stock markets and the firm US dollar mean that metal prices are all in the morning and some are clearly in the red. They are continuing their decline from yesterday. Lower prices are attributed to the weak Chinese economic data released yesterday morning. Given the turbulence on the oil market, it seems that yesterday did not pay enough attention. In addition, China's real estate prices lost some momentum in August, which we believe is due to tightening financing conditions to ensure the stability of the financial system. In the trade dispute between the US and China, representatives of both sides meet tomorrow to prepare the official talks in early October.

Nickel slipped temporarily below $ 17,000 a ton this morning. One of the world's largest nickel producers announced yesterday that it will restart the mining and processing complex "Onca Puma" in Brazil. Shortly before that, a court had lifted injunctions against the operation of the plant, which were issued because of environmental pollution. As a result, mine production has been paralyzed since September 2017, and the processing plant has been shut down since June of this year. The operator did not want to comment on how much nickel should be produced there in the future. According to their own statements, "Onca Puma" had produced a good 7,000 tons of nickel in the third quarter of 2017 before the production halted.

Source: Commerzbank Research, Photo: Fotolia