SHANGHAI- London metals were mostly down on Thursday on the backdrop of aggressive Trump tariffs, while zinc surged to a more than seven-week high on Nyrstar cutting production in Australia.
US President Donald Trump lashed out at Canada on Tuesday over its retaliation for his prior tariffs by doubling the import duty on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50 percent, while keeping rates for all other countries at 25 percent and rescinding prior exemptions, exclusions and quotas.
Three-month zinc on the London Metal Exchange (LME) gained 0.3 percent to $2,932 a metric ton.
It scaled a seven-week peak earlier in the session after Nyrstar on Wednesday announced 25 percent production cuts at its Hobart zinc operations in Australia from April, sending prices higher.
The company owned by commodity trader Trafigura said its Australian assets continue to face significant financial challenges due to worsening conditions in raw material markets, negative treatment charges and increased costs.
The zinc smelter in Hobart, which Nyrstar bills as one of the world’s largest, has a production capacity of about 260,000 metric tons a year, the company said in an email, without providing the latest output figures.
LME copper gained 0.1 percent to $9,777 a ton, LME aluminum lost0.2 percent to $2,698.5 a ton, lead lost 0.1 percent to $2,080, tin eased 0.1 percent to $33,400 and nickel was down0.9 percent to $16,495.
