Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx) posted a 73% increase in profit attributable to shareholders in the first half of 2015 to HK$4.10 billion ($527.8 million) due to its commercialisation strategy for the LME, higher trading and clearing fees and increased market activity.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are for the most part weaker this morning, Wednesday March 21, with all of the metals, except lead and tin, showing average losses of 0.3%. Copper is down by 0.4% at $6,732 per tonne, while lead is up by 0.4% at $2,360 per tonne and tin is little changed.

Japanese steel producers continued to see lower prices in December at home although they enjoyed a rally in export prices on the back of a weakening yen.

The combination between Metinvest and Ilyich Iron & Steel is compelling. Metinvest brings its raw materials assets to the deal, and plans to invest a cool $2 billion in modernising and improving Ilyich’s facilities

Iron ore prices are weakening fast, with offer at $100 per tonne for 63.5% Fe content now failing to find buyers as high inventories and falling Chinese steel prices damage sentiment.

An escalation in the United States’ trade war with China, with another $200 billion of Chinese goods now potentially facing tariffs, has rattled base metals prices during early trading on Wednesday July 11.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are down across the board by an average of 0.5% this morning, Monday March 26, led by a 1.1% fall in copper to $6,577 per tonne.

Some progress at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit on US-China trade has given the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange a boost, up by an average of 1.4%.

What stories and events passed over the screen of Metal Bulletin editor Alex Harrison in the past week?

The annual sitting of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference - widely known as the ‘twin sessions’ - in Beijing released a series of stimulus packages for the development of China’s economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.