What's moving the market?

Nickel and copper were moving in opposite directions on the London Metal Exchange Monday amid seasonally thin trade, a UK-based trader said, while noting that some third Wednesday trade was taking place. Copper was bid at $6,687/mt at 1009 GMT up on its Friday evening close at $6,635/mt. The move higher comes on the back of falling stocks and a strike at the Altonorte copper smelter in northern Chile. A strike was declared overnight when union officials and Xstrata management operation failed to reach a final hour agreement. However, the trader noted that the strike was not having as much impact as previously anticipated. "The strike has not had a massive impact. There are reports in the local Chilean press that one of the main unions at the Codelco Norte division may agree with the unions. So that has taken some of the heat out of the strike," the London-based trader said.

The strike is expected to take place from 1100 GMT Monday. LME stocks also fell to provide another element of support for the metal. A net drawdown of 850 mt included drawdowns of 1,250 mt from Singapore and 200 mt from Busan, which were offset by 425 mt delivery into Helsingborg, 75 mt into St Louis and 100 mt into Baltimore. Total LME copper stocks stood at 173,250 mt. Some 1,500 lots were turned over on the LME Monday morning making it the most actively traded contract. Nickel eased gently to stand bid at $34,000/mt, down $350 on its Friday evening close. Stocks did increase and rose by 216 mt to 7,182 mt. Aluminium was bid at $2,792/mt, off $8 on its previous close. Aluminium traded just 700 lots on Monday on LME Select while its LME stocks rose by 1,675 mt, with the largest deliveries flowing into Detroit and Singapore. A close below $2,400/mt would pave the way down towards key support at $2,200/mt, Barclays Capital technical analysts said Monday.

Zinc was bid at $4,280/mt, off $35 on its previous close, while lead was bid at $1,675/mt, up $15 on its close on Friday. "It's mainly routine trade that's taking place ahead of the third Wednesday," the trader remarked. Tin was bid at $11,000/mt at 1009 GMT off $50 on Friday's close. With supply problems set to persist in Indonesia, the market is likely to pay close attention to developments in the opening months of 2007. No prices were available for aluminium alloy and its sister contract.