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Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025

By Ashutosh Pati

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of copper on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange rose Tuesday due to expectations of multiple interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve this year. Market participants are now waiting for China's consumer price index data due early Wednesday for further cues about demand in the country.

China's imports of unwrought COPPER fell 11.5% on month in August to 425,000 tonnes. But copper concentrate imports rose 8% on month in August to 2.76 million tonnes, preliminary Chinese trade data showed Monday. Typically, lower supply of unwrought copper and copper concentrates leads to higher copper prices, as these are key raw materials for producing refined copper.

Fed funds futures traders are now pricing in an 89.4% chance of the Fed cutting interest rates by 25 basis points later this month, with a 10.6% probability of a 50-bps cut, according to CME's FedWatch tool. Lower interest rates typically lead to higher economic growth and an increase in demand for base metals. Non-farm payrolls data showed the US economy created only 22,000 jobs in August, sharply lower than the 75,000 jobs expected and from 79,000 jobs added in July. The US Fed is now widely expected to cut the federal funds rate next week.

Copper prices also rose after reports of suspension in operations following an incident at the Grasberg Mine in Indonesia, world's second largest copper mine. "The extent and sustainability of the damage is still unclear," Commerzbank said in a report. Reuters reported that a large flow of wet material blocked access to parts of the underground mine, restricting evacuation routes for seven workers.

On Monday, Informist reported MCX Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Praveena Rai as saying that the exchange really wants to make the relaunched NICKEL futures work and is a big focus. The nickel futures contract was relaunched by MCX on Aug. 18 with modified specifications. Since the relaunch, the contract has recorded an average daily turnover of around INR 23 million. There was no trading in nickel futures on the exchange from March 2023 to July.

At 1857 IST, on the MCX, the September futures contract of:
-–ALUMINIUM was at INR 255.25 a kg, up 0.3%
–-Copper was at INR 902.30 a kg, up 0.3%
–-LEAD was at INR 181.20 a kg, down 0.1%
–-ZINC was at INR 275.40 a kg, down 0.2%
--Nickel was at INR 1,342.00 a kg, down 0.2%

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 252.20-INR 257.40
--Copper contract seen at INR 891.60-INR 912.20
--Lead contract seen at INR 180.10-INR 182.30
--Zinc contract seen at INR 270.40-INR 278.70
--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,319.00-INR 1,364.80

End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Nishant Maher

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