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Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025

 

By Ashutosh Pati

 

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of copper on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange were steady Tuesday ahead of US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell address at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook luncheon later in the day. Market participants will be closely watching comments by Fed officials.
 

Investors assessed a slew of comments from US Federal Reserve officials just days after the US Federal Open Market Committee cut the federal funds target rate range by 25 basis points, delivering the first interest rate cut in 2025. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President Alberto Musalem said he saw limited room for further cuts due to higher inflation. Newly appointed Fed Governor Stephen Miran, however, said the appropriate Fed funds rate should be in the 2.0-2.5% range, citing risks to unemployment.

 

Market participants continue to digest supply disruptions in major COPPER mines across the globe, from Freeport-McMoran's suspended mine in Indonesia to Codelco's mine in Chile, analysts said. The Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia, the world's second largest copper mine, had suspended operations after a large flow of wet material blocked access to parts of the underground mine, restricting evacuation routes for workers.

 

"At Freeport-McMoran Inc's Grasberg mine, the bodies of two workers have been recovered as it continues a search operation following a mud flow incident earlier this month," Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ Research, said in a note. "A prolonged suspension at the world's second largest mine could quickly tighten the global copper market," he said.

 

Chilean state-owned mining company Codelco said its biggest mine, El Teniente, could take longer to return to full production than originally planned after a deadly tunnel collapse in July. The fall in production will probably exceed the 33,000 tonnes originally forecast by the company.

 

At 1727 IST, on the MCX, the September futures contract of:
-–ALUMINIUM was steady at INR 255.15 a kg
–-Copper was steady at INR 910.65 a kg
–-LEAD was at INR 183.05 a kg, up 0.1%
–-ZINC was at INR 277.60 a kg, down 0.1%

 

The October futures contract of NICKEL was at INR 1,341.00 a kg, down 0.2%.

 

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 251.80-INR 259.00
--Copper contract seen at INR 901.40-INR 921.20
--Lead contract seen at INR 181.70-INR 185.20
--Zinc contract seen at INR 272.60-INR 282.90
--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,314.50-INR 1,365.90

 

End

 

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

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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