Press Metal rallies as London aluminium prices climb

Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd (Press Metal) is PMB Tech

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of Press Metal jumped on Monday, rising to a high of RM4.24, riding on the rallies on the London aluminium on concerns of sanctions by the US on aluminium giant Rusal.

At 11.18am, Press Metal was up 36 sen to RM4.21. There were 6.69 million shares done.

The rebound in its share price also powered the FBM KLCI. The index was up 12.19 points or 0.66% to 1,849.20. Turnover was 823.90 million shares valued at RM487.08mil. There were 477 gainers, 257 losers and 278 counters unchanged.

Reuters reported London aluminium rallied 2% on Monday to US$2,082 a tonneand is expected to rise further on concerns that sanctions by the United States on aluminium giant Rusal  could hamper trade in some seven percent of the world's annual supply of the metal. 

The US on Friday imposed sanctions against Russian businessmen, companies and government officials, striking at associates of President Vladimir Putin in one of Washington's most aggressive moves to punish Moscow for a range of activities.
   
Shares of United Company Rusal Plc fell 31% in Hong Kong on Monday after it was included in the new list.

"Market concerns have that the sanction against Rusal and its own technical default assessment may lead to supply shortage in both aluminium and alumina," said Hong Kong broker Argonaut in a report.

Rusal produced some 3.7 million tonnes of aluminium in 2017, about 7% of the world's total, Argonaut said. Its annual alumina production of 11.5 million tonnes was also about 7% of the global total, while it produced about 4% of the world's bauxite, the broker said.
    
"It is expected that (the aluminium price rise) will extend further," Argonaut said.

On the Shanghai Futures Exchange where markets reopened after a four-day break, aluminium was up nearly 1%.