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24 Feb 2014
Commodities: industrial metals decline on prospect of reduced Chinese demand
FXStreet (London) - Copper prices fell overnight on concerns over declining demand after a Chinese news source reported that some banks had tightened real-estate lending.
Declining industrial demand
The report from Shanghai Securities News said that Industrial Bank co. along with other banks had curbed lending to property developers. The prospect of a slowdown in construction spending in China, the world's largest copper consumer, has knocked 1.23 percent off copper prices, with May contracts currently trading at USD322/lb.
Prices had already been given room for downside after a report released on Friday showed that copper stockpiles had reached a nine-month high.
In addition to copper declines, aluminium and zinc have also seen falls on decreased industrial demand expectations.
Gold rises on growth worries
Gold has risen to a four-month high on US economic growth concerns. US home sales fell to a one-year low on Friday, suggesting a weakening of consumer confidence.
While much of the weak US economic data published so far in 2014 has been written off as affected by the below-normal US temperatures and poor weather conditions, concerns remain over the pace of US growth, fuelling haven demand for gold. The precious metal is currently trading at USD1,332.24/oz, up 0.6 percent.
In addition, silver prices have rallied strongly. Spot silver is currently trading at USD22.06/t oz, up 1.23 percent.
Cold weather adds to natural gas rally
Natural gas futures continued their big 2014 rally, surging to five-year highs on the prospect of continuing below-normal US weather conditions.
Forecasted possibility of the return of disruptive snow to the Northeast has helped push natural gas contracts for May delivery to USD6.44, up 4.94 percent.
Declining industrial demand
The report from Shanghai Securities News said that Industrial Bank co. along with other banks had curbed lending to property developers. The prospect of a slowdown in construction spending in China, the world's largest copper consumer, has knocked 1.23 percent off copper prices, with May contracts currently trading at USD322/lb.
Prices had already been given room for downside after a report released on Friday showed that copper stockpiles had reached a nine-month high.
In addition to copper declines, aluminium and zinc have also seen falls on decreased industrial demand expectations.
Gold rises on growth worries
Gold has risen to a four-month high on US economic growth concerns. US home sales fell to a one-year low on Friday, suggesting a weakening of consumer confidence.
While much of the weak US economic data published so far in 2014 has been written off as affected by the below-normal US temperatures and poor weather conditions, concerns remain over the pace of US growth, fuelling haven demand for gold. The precious metal is currently trading at USD1,332.24/oz, up 0.6 percent.
In addition, silver prices have rallied strongly. Spot silver is currently trading at USD22.06/t oz, up 1.23 percent.
Cold weather adds to natural gas rally
Natural gas futures continued their big 2014 rally, surging to five-year highs on the prospect of continuing below-normal US weather conditions.
Forecasted possibility of the return of disruptive snow to the Northeast has helped push natural gas contracts for May delivery to USD6.44, up 4.94 percent.