BEIJING, Dec 20 (Reuters) - London aluminium prices sank to
a 16-month low on Thursday after the United States said it would
withdraw sanctions on Russian aluminium producer Rusal, while
other metals fell on signs the U.S. Federal Reserve would
continue to hike interest rates.
Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange
fell by as much as 1.1 percent to $1,905.50 a tonne, the lowest
since Aug. 4, 2017, and stood at $1,910.50 a tonne at 0508 GMT.
Prices had hit a near seven-year high when the sanctions
were announced in April on fears of a supply shortage but
gradually eased amid a series of extensions of the deadline for
U.S. firms to wind down business with Rusal.
The impact on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where prices
were already languishing near two-year lows, was more muted,
with the most-traded February aluminium contract
slipping 0.6 percent to 13,610 yuan ($1,970.24) a tonne by the
end of the morning's trade.
John Browning, managing director of Bands Financial in
Shanghai, said he did not expect the lifting of the sanctions to
affect the ShFE aluminium price as much as the LME price.
"The international market and the (Chinese) market have
different dynamics due to a range of conditions from
environmental to production profiles," he said.
China is the world's biggest aluminium producer.
FUNDAMENTALS
* RUSAL: Rusal's Hong Kong shares rose as much as
26.8 percent to their highest since April
* LME RESPONSE: The LME said it proposed to lift its
suspension on aluminium produced Rusal if U.S. sanctions are
lifted.
* ALUMINIUM: Representatives from China's biggest aluminium
producers will hold a meeting on Friday in the southern region
of Guangxi to discuss slumping demand and falling prices, three
sources familiar with the matter said.
* FED: The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday pushed its key
overnight lending rate to a range of 2.25 percent to 2.50
percent, the fourth hike of the year, and signalled "some
further gradual" increases.
* OTHER METALS: LME copper, nickel and lead
all slipped around 1 percent. Copper had gained 0.8
percent in the previous session on hopes a pause in Fed rate
hikes would boost demand. ShFE copper fell as much as
1.2 percent to 47,820 yuan a tonne, the lowest since Sept. 18.
