Spot gold was up 0.8% at $2,864 per ounce by 09:24 a.m. ET (1424 GMT), after hitting a record high of $2,877 earlier in the session.
“Gold continues to be largely influenced by trade uncertainties… the tariffs with China and the retaliation has the market on edge, so safe-haven flows remain the dominant factor,” said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals.
Spot silver rose 0.4% to $32.23 per ounce, platinum gained 1.6% to $979.40 and palladium added 0.4% to $994.75.
Source – Reuters
Freeport’s last export permit expired at the end of 2024, but the company has requested it can continue selling copper concentrate abroad because its local copper smelter was in repair after a fire in October last year.
“The trade ministry supports a plan to relax the export policy after weighing the cost and benefit analysis … while also observing the sustainability of the government’s natural resource downstreaming policy,” deputy minister Dyah Roro Esti said in a statement.
Freeport Indonesia said that it’s currently negotiating with the government over the export permit and believed the government “would accommodate” it.
Source – Mining.com
Newmont, the Colorado-based gold miner, was one of the worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500SPX+0.52% Friday as the price of gold slumped from its June record high.
Newmont stock, meanwhile, has risen 59% this year as of Thursday’s close, and competitors like Barrick Mining and Agnico Eagle Mines have also seen their share prices soar.
Source – Barron’s
“The market is really trying to understand how aggressive these potential tariffs could be and I think the problem is no one really knows the answer,” said Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree.
Alastair Munro, senior base metals analyst at Marex, said copper found some support from contrarian buying from some Commodity Trade Advisor (CTA) investment funds, which are largely driven by computer programs.
Source – Reuters / Live Mint
On Wednesday, TD Securities shifted its stance on ERO Copper Corp (ERO:CN) (OTC: ERRPF), raising the stock rating from Hold to Buy, while adjusting the price target to Cdn$23.00, down from the previous Cdn$26.00. The upgrade reflects a change in sentiment based on the company’s current share price and its future growth prospects.
The analysts at TD Securities anticipate a significant turnaround in free cash flow (FCF) starting in the second quarter of 2025. They project a 95% year-over-year improvement in copper production for the current year, with expectations for continued growth into 2026.
Source – Investing.com
London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper slumped to a 17-month low of $8,105 per metric ton on April 7 after China responded to U.S. tariffs in kind.
Citi, which now expects copper to hit $8,000 per ton over the next three months, warns that commodity markets are still not pricing the full potential impact on demand.
Copper as a macro play cannot but reflect the broader market concerns about the negative impact of an escalating trade war between the United States and China on the world economy.
But at a micro level, the specific threat of U.S. tariffs on the metal is pulling normal trade patterns out of shape and causing both LME and Shanghai exchange inventories to fall.
Source – Reuters
