ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 13/11: Lead price drops 2% on LME; Chinese copper premiums lower; Fastmarkets launches daily HRC index

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Tuesday November 13.

The three-month lead price dropped almost 2% during the London Metal Exchange closing trade session on Monday November 12. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:

Sluggish demand could lead to softer spot copper premiums in China next year, Arc Resources general manager Milton Li said.

Fastmarkets launched its daily US Midwest Hot-Rolled Coil Index on November 12.

China’s auto output fell by 10.1% year on year in October, leading to annual contractions in output and sales for the first 10 months of the year and causing prices to drop for upstream steel goods such as cold-rolled coil.

Seaborne iron ore concentrate prices eased during the week ended November 9  amid limited demand from major buyer China due to the availability of cheaper domestic alternatives.

China’s hot-rolled coil price plunged on November 12 after sellers made big cuts to secure bookings.

China’s exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products increased by 37.7% year on year in October but fell by 4.9% compared with the previous month, preliminary Chinese customs data released on November 8 show.

ICBC Standard Bank expects the price of copper to recover toward $7,000 per tonne because investors have overstated their worries about the effects on demand stemming from trade tensions between the United States and China.

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