According to Mining News Pro - Earnings at China`s industrial firms in November dropped for the first time in nearly three years, data showed on Thursday, in a sign of rising risks to the world`s second-largest economy. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.5 percent in closing open outcry trading to $5,986.50 per tonne after hitting $5,941 a tonne on Monday, its weakest since Sept. 18.
* NICKEL: A global nickel market deficit will nearly halve to 49,000 tonnes in 2019 from 93,000 tonnes this year on higher output of primary metals by global suppliers and of lower-grade nickel pig iron (NPI) in Indonesia, Sumitomo Metal Mining said on Tuesday. LME nickel shed 1.1 percent to end at $10,770 per tonne after touching $10,700, its weakest since October 2017.
* RUSAL: Russian aluminium company Rusal said that the board chairman resigned as part of a restructuring it agreed to implement in exchange for a waiver from U.S. sanctions. The move to lift Rusal sanctions has weighed on prices due to concern about additional supply. LME aluminium slid 2.2 percent to finish at $1,851.50 a tonne, the lowest since March 9, 2017.
* ALUMINIUM SPREAD: The cash aluminium contract moved to a $7.80 a tonne premium to the three-month contract , the highest premium since July and contrasting adiscount of $18.25 seen two weeks ago. This usually indicates tighter supply of nearby supplies.