Aluminum claws back lost ground after four-day slide

LONDON — Aluminum clawed back some lost ground on Wednesday after four straight days of losses, but remained down 18% from its April peak as concerns over the impact of US sanctions on Russian producer United Company Rusal eased.

Prices of the metal, used in products from food cans to aeroplane parts, soared after the sanctions were announced, but fell sharply on Monday as the United States gave US customers of Rusal more time to comply.

“If the sanctions had been placed on Rusal in full as seemed likely last week, it would have been very disruptive for global supply chains,” Capital Economics analyst Caroline Bain said. “There could have been a shortfall of aluminum in the world (excluding) China.”

LME ALUMINUM: Threemonth aluminum on the London Metal Exchange ( LME) closed 0.80% higher at $2,245 a ton, still down by nearly a fifth from the seven-year peak of $2,718 it hit on Thursday.

INVENTORIES: Headline aluminum stocks in LME warehouses fell 5,850 tons, exchange data showed on Wednesday. On-warrant inventories — those not earmarked for delivery and available to the market — rose 3,350 tons after five straight days of declines.

ALUMINUM TECHNICALS: LME aluminum may test support at $ 2,152 a ton, a break below which could cause a loss to the next support at $2,078, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said in a report.

RUSSIA: Russia’s En+ Group, owned by sanctions-hit businessman Oleg Deripaska, said its chief executive officer and its chief financial officer resigned on Tuesday, with replacements appointed to both posts.

ALUNORTE: Norsk Hydro ASA has halted alumina output at two of seven production lines at its Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil, its CEO said on Wednesday.

ZINC STOCKS: Zinc inventories in LME warehouses, which hit their lowest in a decade in February, surged 28,150 tons or 15.5%, the exchange data showed on Wednesday. LME zinc ended down 2.4% at $3,135 a ton, the biggest faller among industrial metals.

COPPER PRICES: Bellwether industrial metal copper finished the day down 0.10% at $7,008 a ton.

OTHER METALS: Nickel closed 1.1% higher at $ 14,145 a ton, up for the first time in five days. It fell from its April 19 peak of $ 16,690, a three- year high, as fears of sanctions spreading eased. Tin finished up 0.70% at $21,250, and lead ended at $2,306, down 0.20%. —