Materials Down After Chinese Copper Data - Materials Roundup

Shares of commodities producers declined after weak Chinese copper usage data. Copper for December delivery fell 2.5% to $3.0660 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during intraday trading, the largest decline in months and one that would break an 8-week winning streak for copper prices. The fall was triggered by a report that Chinese copper imports were unchanged from a month earlier. Separately, exports of Chinese steel fell sharply again in August, putting them on track for the lowest annual total since 2013. U.K. mining giant Rio Tinto could be preparing for a sale of two major coal mines for about $2.6 billion, according to one brokerage. "Rio Tinto has announced an increased reserve estimate at the Kestral Coal mine, in our view this is a process sometimes typical for assets potentially subject to sale," said analysts at brokerage Credit Suisse, in a research note. While the Credit Suisse analysts had previously anticipated a sale of metals businesses in Canada and elsewhere, "with coal prices running high we see Rio being potentially opportunistic to clean up the rest of its coal assets while buyers of these other less core assets would be harder to come by."

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

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September 08, 2017 16:44 ET (20:44 GMT)