MEIR ON METALS: Metals rebound on weak dollar; Chinese weekend macro numbers awaited

Mar 30, 2012 | 11:32 AM |

Analyst Ed Meir looks at what is moving the metal markets on Friday March 30. Copper and general commentary: Copper prices reversed course impressively on Thursday after a decent-sized decline set in over much of the Asian and European sessions. Despite the higher close, other metals struggled, with aluminium looking particularly weak, especially after key support at $2150 was taken out. Most other commodities finished sharply lower as well, with energy prices shedding $2-3 per barrel and nudging the CRB index towards its biggest daily decline in three-and-a-half months. Looking back over the first quarter, copper has had a very good run and is on track to finish with a 10% increase, despite the significant demand headwinds emanating from China. Tin leads the group in terms of being the best performing metal, up by 17% on the quarter, followed by zinc and aluminium at 8% and 6%, respectively. The biggest losers were lead (down by 3%) and nickel (down by 6%).....