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Informist, Wednesday, May 13, 2026

 

By Ashutosh Pati

 

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of all base metals rose on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange, with copper rising over 1% due to disruption in supply from a major global mine and rising demand from artificial intelligence-driven sectors, according to analysts. Aluminium prices also surged as supply tightness from West Asia has raised concerns about a deficit in the global market this year.

 

"LME base metals extended gains as tightening supply conditions and resilient industrial demand outweighed pressure from a stronger dollar and ongoing US-Iran uncertainty," Kotak Securities said in a report.

 

Market participants remained focused on developments surrounding Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine in Indonesia. Although the company denied reports that full production recovery could be delayed until 2028, it still lowered its second-half 2026 recovery target to 65% from the earlier estimate of 85%, keeping supply concerns alive, Kedia Advisory said in a note.

 

Strong demand from China and falling inventories in the country are also supporting prices of COPPER. "Sentiment has been buoyed by recent economic data that showed industrial activity in China has been much better than expected, with limited impact from the Middle East (West Asia) conflict," Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ Research said in a note. "Strong equity markets driven by AI stocks have also raised the prospect of further investment in data centres, which should support demand for the industrial metal," Hynes added.

 

Moreover, there are concers about a supply crunch due to the disruption of sulphuric acid exports from the Persian Gulf. Sulphuric acid is a critical input for copper refining operations.

 

At 1946 IST, on the MCX, the May futures contract of:

--ALUMINIUM was at INR 386.00 a kg, up 2.1%
--Copper was at INR 1,408.25 a kg, up 1.3%
–-LEAD was at INR 204.80 a kg, up 0.7%
–-ZINC was at INR 364.70 a kg, up 0.7%

--NICKEL was at INR 1,833.10 a kg, up 0.6%

 

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 382.00-INR 390.00

--Copper contract seen at INR 1,400.00-INR 1,420.00
--Lead contract seen at INR 203.00-INR 206.00

--Zinc contract seen at INR 360.00-INR 367.00

--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,810.00-INR 1,860.00

End

 

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

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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