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Informist, Tuesday, May 26, 2026

 

By Ashutosh Pati

 

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of copper edged lower on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange Tuesday as market focus shifted back to higher interest rates and global economic growth after fresh strikes by the US on Iran. Aluminium prices rose due to supply concerns as West Asia accounts for around 9% of global output.

 

US President Donald Trump Monday said negotiations with Iran were "proceeding nicely." However, the US attacked Iran's Bandar Abbas in what the US called a self-defence strike to protect US troops from danger posed by Iranian forces. The US said it attacked missile launch sites and Iranian boats.

 

However, the losses in copper futures were limited due to firm demand from artificial intelligence-led sectors and lower supply. Chile's state copper commission, Cochilco, expects the country's production of the red metal to fall by 2% to 5.3 million tonnes in 2026 due to lower ore grades, maintenance, and operational constraints.

 

Meanwhile, surplus in the global refined copper market widened to 396,000 tonnes in Jan-Mar from 135,000 tonnes a year ago, according to the International Copper Study Group. In Jan-Mar, global production of refined copper rose around 4.5% on year to 7.29 million tonnes and consumption rose 0.8% on year to 6.89 million tonnes.

 

"Aluminium could find some additional support from reports that Guinea is looking to introduce controls on exports of bauxite," Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ Research said in a note. "Guinea's exports of the key material in aluminium smelting make up a third of global production."

 

At 1740 IST, on the MCX, the June futures contract of:

--ALUMINIUM was at INR 386.95 a kg, up 0.7%
--Copper was at INR 1,360.25 a kg, down 0.5%
–-LEAD was at INR 207.85 a kg, up 0.9%
–-ZINC was at INR 369.70 a kg, down 0.3%

--NICKEL was steady at INR 1,815.90 a kg

 

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 384.00-INR 391.00

--Copper contract seen at INR 1,350.00-INR 1,370.00
--Lead contract seen at INR 204.00-INR 208.00

--Zinc contract seen at INR 368.00-INR 374.00

--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,790.00-INR 1,830.00

End

 

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

 

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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