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Informist, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025

 

By Reshma Ravi

 

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of copper rose on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange Wednesday, after a three-day decline, ahead of the release of the minutes of the US Federal Open Market Committee's last policy meeting. The minutes are expected to give clarity on the central bank's interest rate trajectory.

 

The minutes from the Fed's last policy meeting are due later Wednesday. Investors are trading cautiously ahead of the release of official September US job data, which was delayed by the government shutdown and is a key reference for the country's monetary policy direction. Economists polled by Reuters expect the non-farm payroll report to show that employers added 50,000 jobs in September.

 

Meanwhile, data on Tuesday showed that the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits stood at a two-month high in mid-October, with continued claims for jobless benefits rising to 1.9 million in the week ended Oct. 18. A labor department spokesperson said "a technical issue caused the early posting of partial data," adding "this is being corrected, and the complete series will be available by close of business on Nov. 20," Reuters reported.

 

However, gains were capped by easing supply concerns. Freeport-McMoRan plans to restore large-scale production at Indonesia's Grasberg copper mine by July, after halting operations in September following an accident.

 

Freeport has already resumed activities at the Deep Mill Level Zone and Big Gossan underground mines, which it said were not affected by the mud flow. "Adding to the bearish tone, LME copper inventories rose by 4,450 tonnes to 104,500 tonnes, the highest since early October," Kedia Advisory said in an email.

 

At 1443 IST, on the MCX, the November futures contract of:
-–ALUMINIUM was at INR 264.75 a kg, up 0.6%
–-COPPER was at INR 1,004.00 a kg, up 0.9%
–-LEAD was steady at INR 180.15 a kg
–-ZINC was at INR 303.8 a kg, up 0.9%

 

The December futures contract of NICKEL was steady at INR 1,302.00 a kg

 

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 263.00-INR 268.00
--Copper contract seen at INR 994.00-INR 1,010.00
--Lead contract seen at INR 179.00-INR 182.00
--Zinc contract seen at INR 300.00-INR 306.00
--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,285.00-INR 1,315.00

 

End

 

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

 

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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