Mining equities reversed hard in the latest session in the site market tables. Gold miners rose 4.34 percent, silver miners 3.48 percent and uranium miners 1.63 percent, a near mirror image of the previous session, when silver miners fell 5.45 percent, uranium miners 4.92 percent and gold miners 4.4 percent. Copper miners were flat, up 0.01 percent, and lithium and battery names fell 1.22 percent, the only group still in retreat.
The metals moved with the equities this time. Gold rose 0.69 percent to 4,198.90 dollars an ounce, silver gained 1.91 percent to 57.92 dollars and copper added 1.8 percent to 6.63 dollars a pound, recovering part of a three day slide that had taken Comex copper to a ten day low on Thursday as a hot US inflation print revived rate hike talk and the Escondida settlement removed supply risk.
The majors lagged the bounce. BHP fell 0.43 percent and Rio Tinto 1.14 percent in the same tables, a reminder that the diversifieds carry iron ore and energy exposure the precious metal names do not. Iron ore had slipped to a two year low earlier in the week on weak demand and rising supply, and that drag, not copper, is what separates BHP and Rio from the gold complex on a day like this.
The pattern across the week is the story: miners fell five percent on a day silver rose, then rose four percent as the metals steadied. Readers holding the equities as a proxy for the metals should note the proxy is loose, and the week’s physical news, an averted strike at Escondida, output growth at Antofagasta and a large lithium expansion approved at Pilgangoora, points to supply relief rather than scarcity.