Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- China warns against speculation and hoarding
- Iron ore prices fall sharply in Dalian
- Steel price drop 5%
- Move could ease inflationary pressures
Stocks have opened higher in London, with the FTSE 100 gaining 22 points in early trading to 7040 points, up 0.3%.
Industrial software firm Aveva (+1.5%), telecoms operators Vodafone (+1%) and BT (+1), and pharmaceuticals firm Hikma (+1%) are among the risers, in a fairly quiet start to the week.
Today’s warning about commodities speculation is the toughest comment yet from China’s government, says Bloomberg.
Here’s a flavour:
The officials from the iron ore, steel, copper and aluminum firms that met with five state agencies in Beijing on Sunday were told excessive speculation and rising international prices were to blame for recent advances.
There’s been an unusual amount of attention from policy makers on commodity prices in recent weeks. China’s factory-gate prices rose at the fastest pace in more than three years in April, sparking concerns that costlier raw materials could hamper the economic recovery or feed into higher consumer prices.
“With policy risk shifting toward government intervention, prices will surely be affected by market sentiment,” said Li Ye, an analyst at Shenyin Wanguo Futures Co. in Shanghai.
“The rapid surge in commodity prices has badly affected manufacturers and market orders, leading to losses and defaults.”
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