Mining Commodity Prices Report in Midle September 2010

As mining commodities aluminium was trading at $2,191 a tonne from a last bid at $2,165 on Thursday. LME stocks for the metal, used in transport and packaging, fell 3,975 tonnes to 4.39 million tonnes. A large portion of those aluminium stocks are tied up in finance deals. The dollar erased losses from earlier in the session, making metals priced in the U.S. unit more expensive for holders of other currencies. Traders also remained on watch for fresh signs of yen selling after massive intervention on Wednesday in case the Bank of Japan begins new sales to weaken the currency. ''We will see $8,000 (on copper) this year but whether that is a sustainable level or not, that's a different question,'' said SocGen's Wilson on copper.

General market sentiment was mixed on Thursday after U.S. initial jobless claims beat expectations, but a separate report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank showed factory activity in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region shrank for a second straight month in September. ''There seems to be a general belief that investors want to be long the complex, but it's the high relative level of pricing which is causing some hesitation,'' Deutsche Bank said in a note. Steel-making ingredient nickel was trading $23,400 from $23,250, after earlier hitting a 4-month peak at $23,570. Battery material lead was trading at $2,227 a tonne from $2,202, having earlier touched its highest level since April at $2,258.50. Zinc was trading at $2,187 a tonne from $2,148 and tin at $23,750 from $23,495, after earlier touching a two-year high at $23,800.