METALS-Lead hits 3-month low, copper up ahead of Fed meeting
* Cash copper trades at 3-mth high against benchmark * Two-day Federal Reserve meeting begins Tuesday * LME nickel stocks extend rise, hit another record (Updates with official prices) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Lead sank to a three-month low on Tuesday as speculators added to their bets that the battery metal would see more losses amid plentiful supply, while copper ticked higher on near-term shortages. Volumes were lower than usual as traders squared their books ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting that is expected to offer clues on when U.S. interest rates will climb. Three-month lead CMPB3 fell to $2,086 a tonne, the weakest since June 16, before recovering to trade unchanged at $2,098 in official open outcry activity. Analyst David Wilson at Citi said it appeared that speculators had added to short positions, following a big down move on Sept. 9, which damaged the technical outlook. "I expect there's a new downward trend setting in," he said. "Lead is generally weaker over the summer months, but usually you'd expect inventory to start getting cancelled now as we're running into the restocking period by battery manufacturers." LME lead inventories MPBSTX-TOTAL have gained 17 percent since the start of July, showing supply was healthy. Three-month LME copper CMCU3 firmed 0.54 percent to $6,857 a tonne in official rings after ending the previous session a little weaker. LME copper slipped to its lowest in nearly three months at $6,734 a tonne on Sept. 11. Adding support to copper was the expiry of the September contract this week. Cash prices traded at a $44 premium against the benchmark contract. That was the loftiest in three months, suggesting a shortfall of immediately available LME metal. LME copper stocks are near six-year lows. CMCU0-3 There was also the threat of reduced supply from the world's largest copper mine, Chile's Escondida, where a trade union said it had called 24 hour strikes for Sept. 22 and 24, in support of improved working conditions. ID:nL1N0RG2L4 FED MEETING Some other LME metals were slightly firmer. "There's an element of retracement from yesterday's weakness and possibly a bit of position-squaring ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting that starts today," said analyst Mark Keenan at Societe Generale in Singapore. "It's been a pretty weak period in general, month-to-date. For example, ali (aluminium) is still 4.5 percent down, including today's bounce, which is a pretty steep fall." Aluminium CMAL3 added 0.7 percent to $2,005 a tonne in official trading. The Fed is facing a pivotal meeting as it debates a potential overhaul of its guidance on interest rates and seeks to nail down a plan for ending its extraordinarily easy monetary policy. ID:nL1N0RB1GL Higher interest rates would pump up costs for industry and reduce cash on hand for commodity investors. In other metals, broker Triland said in a note that LME nickel was "back at the lower end of its summer range and as such it is becoming difficult to make a bullish case, in the short term at least". It said it would watch support around $17,800 a tonne "with interest". The metal CMNI3 traded down 0.22 percent at $18,010 a tonne in official activity, recovering slightly from a session low of $17,890, the weakest since June 13, after LME stocks rose to another record peak MNISTX-TOTAL . Zinc CMZN3 rose 0.25 percent to $2,255 a tonne in official rings and tin CMSN3 shed 0.33 percent to $21,005
) but Ive sold way too early, silly me. Nice div and always was
(maybe the whole asia pacific tracker is a buy)
