Australia’s iron ore producers are riding a perfect storm of reduced Brazilian supply and surging Chinese demand which has lifted the benchmark price of the steel-making material to within sight of the magic $US100 a tonne mark ...
Australia’s iron ore producers are riding a perfect storm of reduced Brazilian supply and surging Chinese demand which has lifted the benchmark price of the steel-making material to within sight of the magic $US100 a tonne mark – before possibly surging to $US120/t.
Share prices of every company exposed to iron ore, including Fortescue and Mineral Resources, have moved up sharply, reaching 12-month highs in most cases, but the story of recovery and fresh heights being reached, does not end there.
Corporate moves, including takeovers and fund raising, took the limelight this week as the destabilising effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continued to hit most commodity markets, except gold.
Corporate moves, including takeovers and fund raising, took the limelight this week as the destabilising effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continued to hit most commodity markets, except gold.
Chalice led the fund-raising, attracting $30 million in fresh capital to accelerate work at its promising Julimar palladium and nickel discovery near Perth.
Such is the interest in Julimar and palladium that Chalice could have raised more than double what it accepted with applications for the new shares, priced at $1.05, totalling $75 million.
A “rolling bottom” might sound like a medical condition but it’s actually one of the more encouraging signs of normality returning to financial markets
A “rolling bottom” might sound like a medical condition but it’s actually one of the more encouraging signs of normality returning to financial markets.
First observers to spot the feature, also known as a “rounding bottom” on graphs which track the world’s economy, were analysts at the investment bank, Morgan Stanley.
In a report on the health of global manufacturing, the end-market for Australia’s natural resource exports, the bank asked earlier this week: “Did April mark the bottom for manufacturing purchasing managers indices?”
The road back to normality started this week as Covid-19 infections faded, but shrewd investors will be watching carefully for potholes while also recognising that the smoothest ride will be on a street paved with gold...
The road back to normality started this week as Covid-19 infections faded, but shrewd investors will be watching carefully for potholes while also recognising that the smoothest ride will be on a street paved with gold.
Encouraging as the public health news might be, the reality is that the global economy has taken a fearsome pounding with a very real risk of regression into extended lockdowns and double-dip downturns for countries which rush their return.
Gold and oil were the big movers on the market this week, albeit in different directions, with gold up, and said to be heading for $US3000 an ounce, and oil so far down that it went below zero in some futures contracts
Gold and oil were the big movers on the market this week, albeit in different directions, with gold up, and said to be heading for $US3000 an ounce, and oil so far down that it went below zero in some futures contracts.
That gold-price tip wasn’t from a fly-by-night investment adviser. It came from the normally cautious Bank of America, which jacked-up its gold forecast by 50% from a long-standing forecast of $US2000/oz.
Discovery and development news, plus a rare “speeding ticket”, were highlights of what has been one of the better weeks for Australian resources stocks since the coronavirus flattened confidence
Discovery and development news, plus a rare “speeding ticket”, were highlights of what has been one of the better weeks for Australian resources stocks since the coronavirus flattened confidence, with fingers crossed that the trend can continue.
Chalice Gold led the way with a 50c (80%) rise to 99c after releasing fresh results from its Julimar nickel and palladium discovery near Perth, a find with the potential to become Australia’s first palladium mine.
It’s a rare day when the closure, however temporary, of copper mines in Panama and Zambia means anything to Australian investors...
It’s a rare day when the closure, however temporary, of copper mines in Panama and Zambia means anything to Australian investors, but what happened in those countries this week is the latest example of how a supply cuts are helping support commodity and share prices.
Both closures, the Cobre mine in Panama and Mopani in Zambia, were caused by concern about coronavirus infections as well as the low copper price, adding to a theme of outages and shortages, especially in the uranium sector, explored in this column last week.
Outages, shortages and mine closures are emerging as an important price-moving factor in the resources sector, with uranium making a surprise return to the winner’s circle this week...
Outages, shortages and mine closures are emerging as an important price-moving factor in the resources sector, with uranium making a surprise return to the winner’s circle this week thanks to a major mine in Canada being mothballed for at least a month.
While not in the same league as last year’s outage events in the Brazilian iron ore industry, which put a rocket under the iron ore price, the Covid-19-caused loss of uranium supply from Cameco’s Cigar Lake mine gave the nuclear fuel a 15% price boost.
