ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 17/08: Nickel top gainer among LME base metals; cobalt prices show signs of turnaround; Antofagasta share prices tumble

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Friday August 17.

The prices of base metals on the London Metal Exchange were higher across the board at the close of trading on Thursday August 16, with nickel prices topping broad complex gains. Read more here in our live futures report.

Here is how prices looked at the close of trading:

Increased cobalt demand among buyers suggests that cobalt prices have possibly hit their bottom

Antofagasta says that its share prices have fallen 4% since the publication of its financial report, which detailed short-term copper demand and lower earnings.

The UK steel industry has raised “major concerns” regarding the country’s exit from the European Union, stating that new and different rules may lead to a divergence in regulatory standards between companies.

A crackdown in antimony smuggling along the China-Vietnam border has injected worry into the Asian market, with consumers on edge that their contracts may not be filled. 

Workers at Chile’s Caserones copper mine will not strike this week, the union confirmed.

What to read next
The most recent financial results published by base metals mining companies highlight just how inflation is affecting profit margins, with increasing wages, financing costs and input prices all hitting profits, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday March 28
Century Aluminum is among those selected to start award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminium smelter, the company said on Monday March 25
Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets
The US Department of Energy selected five base metals projects to receive more than $900 million in federal investment from its Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP), leading to a reduction of four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a statement by the Department on Monday March 25
Aluminium producer and recycler Constellium announced on Tuesday March 12 that the company is moving to test hydrogen utilization at an industrial scale as a power source in its casthouses
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-ALU-0002 alumina index, fob Australia and its MB-ALU-0010 alumina inferred index, fob Brazil, which were published incorrectly on Monday March 18.