查看更多>>摘要：Ours has been one of the very few reports that has been predicting a general uptrend in base metals in spite of discouraging economic scenario. The logic is simple as the stock markets have lost to of ground in past one year and unless there is material change in the situation, there is little incentive to bet on the downside. Same can be said for the base metals, although it is quite likely that base metals are likely to underperform equities in the next one year due to certain inherent fundamental weakness. Copper looks good over 1,570 dollars, although, retest of 1,550 dollars can't be ruled out in the immediate future. Expect further fund buying between 1,520-60 dollars range. Aluminium is expected to come under heavy selling pressure and only if resilient fund buying emerges, aluminium can then seriously pose a threat to the 1,400 dollars level. So far it appears to be an uphill task. Zinc has almost achieved its objective of close over 800 dollars. Nickel also gained rapidly to close around 7,400 dollars.
查看更多>>摘要：Hindustan Seals, India's largest cap and crown manufacturer, has tied-up with Danmetal to bid for Pennar Aluminum Company Ltd (Palco). Basant Kumar Agrawal, HSL's chairman and managing director said his company has submitted a bid to takeover the plant of Palco to IDBI which was the operating agency for BIFR. "A separate company would be formed for the purpose, where Danmetal will have equity participation. We are willing to takeover the plant, machinery and people of Palco and not the company itself," Agrawal said adding that HSL estimated the cost for the proposed deal would be in the region of Rs 1.40 billion.
查看更多>>摘要：The Aditya Birla Group has begun a due diligence exercise of Nalco that it is bidding for. The group is in the race for the PSU along with Sterlite Industries and 12 other foreign companies. While officials in Hindalco Industries, the group's flagship and the country's largest aluminium company, said they were still evaluating who to team up with for Nalco, the due diligence will be done by the group itself. The group has kept its option of tying up with a foreign partner open. Market sources have indicated that chances of Alcoa being a possible partner have come down greatly due to differences of opinion between the two. The group had earlier agreed with Alcoa to jointly bid for aluminum projects in India and abroad and had even initially pitched for the disinvestment of the government stake in Balco. The two now do not share the same arrangement.
查看更多>>摘要：We are coming close to the end of a turbulent year where gold has been one of the few success stories. Gold has been helped by geopolitical uncertainties and weakening stock markets and investor interest, not to mention a weak dollar. Higher gold price has its own perils as physical demand in India this year is expected to fall by 30-40 percent. However, lesser physical demand does not necessarily mean lower prices in the future as there are various other factors that determine the direction of the gold prices.
查看更多>>摘要：Since he took over as the President of the Bombay Metal Exchange (BME), Ashok Bafna has added many feathers to the cap of the already illustrious exchange. Here, in a one-on-one with MMR, the BME dynamo takes stock of the market, BME's activities and achievements and reveals the dreams and aspirations he secretly nurtures for the metals trading community.
查看更多>>摘要：In a mere six years of his experience in bullion trade, Suresh Hundia has taken the bullion trade in Mumbai by storm bagging many awards and breaking may records. He is the reigning President of the Bombay Bullion Association (BBA). In a tete-a-tete with the writer, he reveals what needs to be done if Bombay is to get back its place of pride in the bullion trade.
查看更多>>摘要：LME has issued stricter reporting requirements to its members as a result of a backwardation in aluminium prices. The LME's regulation and compliance director, Alan Whiting, sent a note to brokers saying the threshold at which companies have to declare their large aluminum positions had been cut from 1,000 lots to only 100 lots. The memo stressed that the disclosure requirement would affect positions at the close of business on November 1 and last until further notice. Tightness around the November 1 date has seen a small backwardation in the cash-three months spread open up this week. Traders called the backwardation on November 1, an "aberration" and a "temporary phenomenon" that was set to last only one day. However, a second backwardation is also expected for December and this is forecast to last a number of days.
查看更多>>摘要：Zinc miners in North America are hoping for a short-lived affair in this year's mating season, during which treatment charges (TCs) are decided with major smelters in Europe and Asia for the following year. Negotiations on TCs have had a tendency to be drawn out in recent years, sometimes lasting up to six months. This time, though, miners claim the case for a significant drop in TCs is so strong that they key deals could be tied up within a couple of months. Serious negotiations are now under way, and all signs point to prevailing spot rates of around 130 dollars per tonne, basis a London Metal Exchange price of 1,000 dollars per tonne, being reflected in the long-term agreements. TCs were settled in 2002 at around 168 dollars per tonne, basis 1,000 dollars per tonne LME, but a drop of about 40 dollars is seen as likely given the considerable tightness in the zinc concentrates market. When there are less concentrates to be treated, or an excess in smelting, capacity, smelters have to drop their charges to win the miners' business. While the zinc industry has witnessed a number of mine closures during the past year, the smelters have been reluctant to reduce output.
查看更多>>摘要：Global gold mine production probably peaked last year and could start sliding by 2004 unless bullion prices rally, prompting miners to pump money into new projects, according to analysts. Richard Davis, portfolio manager of Natural Resources Team at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, said exploration budgets plunged 40 percent in the late '90s from their zenith in '96 as gold prices languished near 20-year lows. Bullion has since revived, supported by greater investment demand and unwinding of producer hedge-books, but not enough to bolster budgets, he said. "At current levels, gold prices are too low to encourage sustainable, profitable investment in grass-roots exploration," Davis told the Nikkei Gold Conference in Tokyo. "Given the log lead-time between finding an ounce of gold and getting it out of the ground, the downward trend in gold production is unlikely to be reversed for some time."
查看更多>>摘要：GoldQuest International, a gold numismatics company, has sought the permission of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to mint legal tender coins in gold for collectibles market. He company already mints legal tender coins of the Kingdom of Bhutan in gold as collectibles. In India, presently no private mint is allowed to mint the legal tender coins in gold. Currently, the company sells only gold medallion collectibles in India. It is planning to widen its range of products including legal tender coins and watches. The company will also lower its entry level product range to begin with 530 dollars as against the international 800 dollars to make it more affordable.
NSTL