Companies: CUX    JKX   

Industrial demand, particularly from China, has kept metal prices buoyant. Aluminium hit a 17-year high of $2,368.5 a tonne, as traders argued high energy and raw material costs would put constraints on production increases despite this demand surge.

The same factors have been pushing lead and copper higher. Platinum, chosen by Barclays Capital as its favourite precious metal for 2006, has been hovering near a 26-year high at $1,000 an ounce on hopes of strong demand from Chinese carmakers for catalytic converters, containing platinum, to produce more low-emission vehicles.
The Far East has been playing a part in gold’s recent strength above $540 an ounce, with Japanese buyers showing strong interest of late. Investors scrambled for the Hong Kong float of China’s Lingbao Gold, which was 1,200 times oversubscribed.

Sceptics suggest China, now becoming a more important producer as well as a buyer, is canny at managing stockpiles, and will not necessarily continue as only a demand influence. Bulls reply that the People’s Republic’s drive to industrialise and its burgeoning jewellery-buying middle class will keep the show on the road.

Oil has continued to trade above $60 a barrel, while gas has stolen the spotlight, as Russia has sought to impose markedly higher prices on the gas it pumps to Europe through Ukraine. This has drawn attention to the role of companies such as Centurion Energy, fast increasing its gas potential reserves in Egypt, and JKX, itself producing gas from Ukraine.