Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed this morning, Monday February 4, with copper down by 0.4% at $6,116 per tonne and zinc leading on the upside with a 0.6% gain. Aluminium, nickel and lead were all up by 0.2% and tin was little changed.

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday February 1 that are worth another look.

Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) dropped further at the end of January, with smelters in China breaking away from the quarterly procurement price floor amid an outlook for a tightening in supply later this year.

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.

China’s domestic battery-grade lithium-carbonate spot price remained stable this week, while the transportation of lithium compounds stopped ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday (February 4-10).

Further weakness in China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), that fell to 48.3 in January from 49.7 in the prior month, was enough to dent confidence in the base metals market this morning, Friday February 1, with prices for the most part weaker as a result.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed within narrow ranges during Asian morning trading on Friday February 1, the last trading day ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays on February 4-10.

Lawmakers in the United States have introduced legislation to limit presidential power to impose tariffs on imports for national security reasons.

Fastmarkets MB is seeking feedback on a proposal to begin publishing on a weekly basis its value-in-use (VIU) indices for the market-implied value impact of 1% iron, silica and alumina, and 0.01% phosphorus on the price of iron ore. Depending on market feedback, this proposal would be implemented from Monday March 4.

A dovish US Federal Reserve stance, a weaker dollar and a firmer Chinese yuan, which may indicate confidence in US-China trade talks, are all helping to underpin the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange this morning, Thursday January 31.