Metals: Industrial Metals Fall on China Worries
September 22 2017 - 12:30PM
Dow Jones News
By Ira Iosebashvili
Nickel prices tumbled for a second straight day Friday, as
concerns about a slowdown in China weighed upon industrial
metals.
Nickel for delivery in three months was recently down 4.2%, at
$10,550 a metric ton, on the London Metal Exchange. The drop
follows a more than 5% decline on Thursday. Other base metals,
including copper and aluminum, also declined.
Driving the losses are fears that the economy in China, the
world's biggest raw materials consumer, is slowing as the effects
of government stimulus ebb and policy makers clamp down on
speculation and asset bubbles.
Standard & Poor's on Thursday became the last of three major
ratings firms to downgrade China, saying that "a prolonged period
of strong credit growth has increased China's economic and
financial risks." Moody's Investors Service lowered its China
rating in May, while Fitch Ratings did so in 2013.
The downgrade pushed some investors to lock in gains on
industrial metals, after a sharp rally during the summer sent
prices to multiyear highs. Earlier this month, China data showed
the country's industrial production falling to its lowest level
since December and investment growth contracting to a 17-year
low.
"There is a general feeling that the recent rally...may have
overshot and some retracement is therefore justifiable," wrote
Edward Meir, a strategist at INTL FC Stone, in a note to
clients.
Aluminum was recently down 0.9%, at $2,150 a metric ton in
London. Copper for December delivery fell 0.1%, to $2.9325 a pound,
on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In precious metals, December gold rose 0.5%, to $1,300.90 a troy
ounce.
Write to Ira Iosebashvili at ira.iosebashvili@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2017 12:15 ET (16:15 GMT)
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