NHYDY Norsk Hydro ASA (QX)

By Christopher Alessi 

LONDON--Aluminum prices continued their upward ascent Thursday morning, bolstered by the planned closure of one the world's largest alumina refineries.

The price of aluminum was up 0.85%, at $2,255.50 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange in mid-morning trade. The price had closed up roughly 4% Wednesday on news that Norwegian aluminum and energy firm Norsk Hydro ASA plans to fully shut its Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil.

"The ex-China alumina market is already tight, and this development only tightens it further," said Warren Patterson, commodities strategist at ING Bank.

In a daily note Thursday, analysts at Commerzbank said that the "complete shutdown [of the Alunorte refinery] now is fueling fears that the global aluminum market will no longer be adequately supplied, especially as uncertainty surrounding the largest Russian aluminum producer also continues."

Meanwhile, the price of copper edged down Wednesday, by 0.40%, to $6,306.50 a metric ton on the LME. The small decline came as the International Copper Study Group significantly revised downwards its global copper supply deficit forecast for next year, However, the organization also said it now expects a copper deficit in 2018, compared with an original projection of a surplus.

The price of gold ticked up slightly Wednesday, by 0.15% to $1,199.46 a troy ounce, but remained under pressure by an overall stronger U.S. dollar, according to the Commerzbank analysts.

Among other precious metals, silver was flat $14.63 a troy ounce, palladium was down 0.29% at $1055.46 a troy ounce and platinum was down 0.49% at $822.95 a troy ounce.

Among other base metals, zinc was down 0.06% at $2,668.50 a metric ton, tin was up 0.08% at $19,040 a metric ton, nickel was up 0.04% to $12,925 a metric ton and lead rose 0.25% to $2,040.50 a metric ton.

Write to Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 04, 2018 06:46 ET (10:46 GMT)

Norsk Hydro ASA (QX) (USOTC:NHYDY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2025 to Mar 2025

Norsk Hydro ASA (QX) (USOTC:NHYDY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Mar 2025