Chinese Trade Data Pressurises Miners

A 2.7% rise in consumer prices in China in February was too small to cause an immediate rise in interest rates, according to analysts, but, nevertheless, put pressure on the Beijing authorities – whose ceiling for inflation, this year, is 3% – to consider a rise as a means of cooling an overheating economy. This, in turn, would hinder demand for raw materials and economic growth worldwide.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Thursday, March 11, 2010

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Many heavyweight mining stocks were under pressure on Thursday afternoon as a result. Kazakhyms, down 49p, or 3.17%, to 1,496p was the biggest laggard in the sector, but was joined in the doldrums by Fresnillo, down 25p, or 2.88%, to 842p, Randgold Resources, down 129p, or 2.53%, at 4,976p and BHP Billiton, down 47.5p, or 2.11%, at 2,200p. Chilean copper miner Antofagasta, by contrast, gained 9p, or 0.88%, to 1,028p, after it was upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" by Goldman Sachs.

Talks between British Airways (BA) and the Unite union ended in deadlock on Wednesday night, with a management offer reportedly "nowhere near addressing our members' concerns over crew numbers and service levels", according to a union spokesperson. The General Secretary of the TUC, Brendan Barber, said no further negotiations were planned in the immediate future and union leaders met on Thursday to decide if and when, strike action should be called.

BA gave up a small percentage of recent gains, closing down 0.9p, or 0.39%, at 230.5p, but it remains fully 20% higher than the 191.1p at which it traded at the start of the year, having recovered from a slump to 195.5p in mid-February.

 

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