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Informist, Friday, Jul. 3, 2026

 

By Ashutosh Pati

 

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of all base metals on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and most on the London Metal Exchange rose as weaker-than-expected US non-farm payroll data dialled back expectations of a near-term rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. The price of aluminium on the LME was under pressure amid recovering production in West Asia.

 

Data released Thursday showed US non-farm payrolls rose by just 57,000 in June, against expectations of a rise of around 110,000, while the figures for April and May were revised downwards. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in June from 4.3% in May as workers exited the labour force, taking the participation rate to its lowest level in more than five years.

 

"The (base metals) complex found support after weaker than-expected US employment data prompted investors to scale back expectations of near-term Federal Reserve rate hikes, easing pressure from a stronger dollar and improving sentiment toward growth-sensitive assets," Kotak Securities said in a report. "Copper remained resilient as softer monetary policy expectations partially offset concerns over improving global supply conditions," it said.

 

ALUMINIUM prices on the LME were under additional pressure after Emirates Global Aluminium said "strong early progress" had been made in the restoration of production at its Al Taweelah plant, with key early milestones reached ahead of schedule. The site had sustained significant damage on Mar. 28 as Iranian attacks on the Khalifa Economic Zone in Abu Dhabi had resulted in an emergency shutdown.

 

This has led to analysts revisiting the deficit outlook for the global aluminium market for the year as supply could come into the market quicker than expected. Nirmal Bang Securities revised downwards the cumulative supply loss from the Gulf Cooperation Council to around 1-1.5 million tonnes from 2.43 million tonnes earlier. This was done as Dubai Aluminium continues to operate at full capacity while Aluminium Bahrain is on the road to recovery.

 

At 1957 IST, on the MCX, the July futures contract of:

--Aluminium was at INR 329.80 a kg, up 0.5%
--COPPER was at INR 1,282.25 a kg, up 0.6%
–-LEAD was at INR 199.10 a kg, up 1%
–-ZINC was at INR 365.45 a kg, up 1.6%

--NICKEL was at INR 1,568.90 a kg, up 0.4%

 

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 322.30-INR 340.50

--Copper contract seen at INR 1,255.10-INR 1,312.10
--Lead contract seen at INR 195.30-INR 201.30

--Zinc contract seen at INR 356.20-INR 372.80

--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,560.00-INR 1,600.00

 

End

 

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

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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