Good forecasts for metals for Q1 2017

The first quarter of the new year can be a good time for industrial metals. Copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) traded at the open of trading at $ 5492.00 a tonne and rose to $ 5500.00 at the close on Tuesday.

It is worth noting that in the fourth quarter of 2016 the increase in copper prices on the LME was 14 percent. The metal jumped 20 percent in November, its strongest gain since April 2006.

The industrial metals market remains strong in the first quarter due to improved macroeconomic indicators of the global economy and strong seasonal demand, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets. However, copper on the LME closed down 0.6 percent on Tuesday in response to a stronger US dollar.

“The strength of the dollar is one of the factors that always affects industrial metals trading,” said Frank Cholley, senior market strategist at RJO in Chicago. "Fears that the new US President Donald Trump intends to take a tougher stance towards China could weaken investor interest in purchasing raw materials consumed in China, including copper," Cholly adds.

Xiao Fu, an economist at Global Commodities in London, believes there will be no increase in metal prices for a while, as we saw at the end of last year. “And this is due to the strong US dollar and the possible acceleration of interest rate hikes in the US,” Fu points out.