India Base Metals
Most up as soft US econ data raises Fed rate cut hopes
This story was originally published at 19:32 IST on 26 November 2025
Register to read our real-time news.Informist, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025
By Ashutosh Pati
MUMBAI – Futures contracts of most base metals rose on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange Wednesday as weaker-than-expected US economic data reinforced expectations of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in December. COPPER prices also rose after Chile's mining authority raised its price outlook for the metal.
The US continued to clear its data backlog caused by the partial government shutdown between early October and mid-November. Producer Price Index inflation was up 2.7% on year in September, the same as in August, while core producer price inflation was 2.6% on year, against 2.9% in August. Both readings were slightly below estimates. Meanwhile, retail sales grew 0.2% on month in September, lower than the 0.6% growth in August and missing the consensus estimate of a 0.3% rise, according to a Dow Jones poll.
On Tuesday, Fed Governor Stephen Miran reiterated his call for a rate cut in December due to a weakening labour market. According to the CME's FedWatch tool, 84.3% of traders are now pricing in a 25-basis-point rate cut in December, up from 50.1% a week ago. "Support (for copper) also stemmed from Chile, where the mining authority raised its price outlook and Codelco sought significantly higher annual premiums, adding to tightening supply signals," Kotak Securities said in a report.
"Meanwhile, commentary from a senior Chinese industry representative highlighting halted smelting projects and pressure from ultra-low processing fees further underscored a constrained production environment," the report said.
At 1831 IST, on the MCX, the December futures contract of:
-–ALUMINIUM was at INR 271.50 a kg, up 1.3%
–-Copper was at INR 1,019.45 a kg, up 0.9%
–-LEAD was steady at INR 181.30 a kg
–-ZINC was at INR 299.30 a kg, up 0.7%
--NICKEL was at INR 1,315.00 a kg, up 0.5%.
Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 267.20-INR 275.00
--Copper contract seen at INR 1,005.70-INR 1,031.70
--Lead contract seen at INR 180.40-INR 182.90
--Zinc contract seen at INR 294.30-INR 303.70
--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,295.30-INR 1,334.70
End
IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT
Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj
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