Market and product
Nickel Leads Industrial-Metals Declines on China Demand Concern
The Central Economic Work Conference opened today, where Chinese leaders are expected to map out plans for next year, the official Xinhua News Agency said. China may lower its economic growth target to 7 percent in 2015 from 7.5 percent this year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Dec. 1.
“The market will be paying close attention for any indication of a change in the country’s GDP growth target for next year,” Dee Perera, an analyst at Marex Spectron Group in London, wrote in a note.
Nickel for delivery in three months slipped 1.1 percent to $16,494 a metric ton by 12:17 p.m. on the London Metal Exchange. A third straight drop would be the longest run of losses since October.
Copper slipped 0.7 percent to $6,362.25 a ton, while the March-delivery contract fell 0.6 percent to $2.8685 a pound on the Comex in New York.
China’s home completions are set to fall by 1 to 3 percent annually from next year to 2025 after almost tripling in 13 years, according to Beijing-based research company Gavekal Dragonomics. Chinese equities retreated as policy makers said riskier bonds can no longer be used as collateral for some short-term loans. European stocks and U.S. index futures fell.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a measure against 10 major trading partners, fell for a second day.
“The pull-back in the dollar seems to be halting the slide,” William Adams, an analyst at FastMarkets in London, said in a note today.
On the LME, lead, aluminum, zinc and tin declined.
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