NGLOY - Iron ore industrial metals slide on China's modest new growth target

2023-03-06 08:58:11 ET

Prices for iron ore, copper and other industrial metals are lower across the board Monday after China set a cautious target for ~5% economic growth this year and did not announce any major new stimulus at the open of the annual session of its National People's Congress.

"The NPC sent the message that the government only aims to support and stabilize the economy, instead of issuing massive stimulus," according to Jiang Hang, head of trading at Yonggang Resources, adding that foreign investors had been too optimistic about the potential for more stimulus.

The most-traded May iron ore futures contract ( SCO:COM ) on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange ended daytime trading -2.1% to 897 yuan/metric ton ($129.70), according to Reuters, and the benchmark April iron ore contract on the Singapore Exchange recently traded -1.2% at $123.85/ton.

The top three global iron ore names all trade lower in the pre-market: Rio Tinto ( NYSE: RIO ) -3.1% , BHP ( NYSE: BHP ) -2.1% , Vale ( VALE ) -1.9% .

Other relevant names include Fortescue ( OTCQX:FSUMF ), Glencore ( OTCPK:GLCNF ) ( OTCPK:GLNCY ) and Anglo American ( OTCQX:AAUKF ) ( OTCQX:NGLOY ).

On the London Metal Exchange, benchmark copper ( HG1:COM ) recently was -1.8% at $8,833/metric ton after pushing to eight-month highs last week , while most other metals including aluminum, zinc and tin also fell.

Copper prices also are weighed by rising inventories, with stocks in LME-registered warehouses up more than 10% since March 1 at 72.,K metric tons.

Alcoa ( AA ) -1.7% , Freeport McMoRan ( NYSE: FCX ) -1.2% , Teck Resources ( TECK ) -1.2% pre-market.

BHP ( BHP ) is "trading at an attractive multiple against the wider market and at a high but supportable valuation against its peers," Douglas McKenney writes in an analysis newly published on Seeking Alpha .

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