stockwatch.com FP/wire say First Quantum sees copper price surge
2024-03-18 09:23 ET - In the News
The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that prices for copper and iron are diverging quickly, with copper rallying above $9,000 (U.S.) a ton as supply cuts hit the market and iron ore sinking as demand headwinds mount. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that copper surged almost 5 per cent last week, ending a months-long spell of inertia. Tentatively, traders are also warming to the idea that the worst of a global downturn is in the past, particularly for metals like copper. However, signs of the headwinds in traditional industrial sectors are still plain to see in the iron ore market, where futures fell below $100 (U.S.) a ton for the first time in seven months on Friday. Investors are betting that China's years-long property crisis will run through 2024, keeping a lid on demand. On Friday there were fresh signs that weakness in China's economy is hitting the copper market too. For now, the main catalyst fuelling copper's rally is an unexpected tightening in global mine supplies. That has been driven mainly by last year's closure of First Quantum Mineral's mine in Panama, but there are also growing worries about output in Zambia, which is facing an El Nino-induced power crisis.