Ferrous metals decline heavily

Mumbai, Nov 24 (UNI) Ferrous metals suffered a heavy setback today following lack of demand by stockists, in view of discouraging advice from London Metal Exchange (LME), traders at the Bombay Metal Exchange (BME) said.

Brass utensils and brass cuttings crashed by Rs 900 and Rs 800 per quintal respectively, amid sustained heavy selling pressure by stockists. Both the metals had surged by Rs 800 per quintal each on Saturday last. Aluminium, which was up by Rs 100 on Saturday, slipped by Rs 400 per quintal due to persistent offloading by stock holders along with discouraging advice from LME, traders said.

In non-ferrous metals category, copper wire bars and zinc slab advanced by Rs 400 and Rs 100 per quintal respectively, on lesser stock supply by local dealers.

Meanwhile, nickel cathode eased by Rs five per kg as sellers were keen to sell their stock. Other metals including, Aluminium ingot, lead ingot and tin slab remained unchanged on scattered buying by stockists, traders added.

Following were the spot metal prices per quintal: Ferrous metals: copper heavy - Rs 23,700, copper utensils - Rs 22,400, brass utensils - Rs 16,600, brass cuttings - Rs 17,200 and aluminium utensils - Rs 9,000.

Non-ferrous metals: copper wire bars - Rs 26,800, aluminium ingots - Rs 11,400, zinc slab - Rs 7,400, lead ingots - Rs 8,800, tin slab - Rs 800 per kg and nickel cathode - Rs 700 per kg.

UNI NV RN NP1621