Nasdaq Commodities

Copper edged down on Wednesday, as demand concerns stemming from a spike in inventories in Chinese exchange warehouses and a firm dollar weighed on prices.

Alcon said it would raise its 2023 dividend per share after the Swiss eye-care company reported a full-year 2024 outlook and fourth-quarter net sales, both in line with market expectations.

South African fashion retailer Woolworths reported a 7.5% fall in half-year earnings on Wednesday, as consumers pulled back on discretionary spending and the country's energy and logistics crisis persisted.

Malaysian palm oil futures extended gains to a fourth straight session on Wednesday, tracking strength in rival vegetable oils, although weak export data limited gains.

Chicago soybean futures rose on Wednesday but remained near their lowest levels since November 2020, as cheap South American supply made U.S. beans less competitive in export markets and speculators bet on further price declines.

Copper prices were range-bound on Wednesday as a spike in inventories in Chinese exchange warehouses offset tightness in mining supply. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was nearly flat at $8,472.50 per metric ton by 0247 GMT, while the most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was largely unchanged at 68,850 yuan ($9,564.09) a ton.

Mexico City International Airport on Tuesday said airlines have canceled 22 domestic and international flights to carry out safety checks after planes encountered ash from the Popocatepetl volcano while flying toward the capital.

In the afternoon sun, dozens of Indonesians, mostly women, gather in a snaking queue to buy bags of subsidised rice, their arms poking through a metal gate to grab tickets assuring them a spot to make a purchase.

Olam Group said on Wednesday that the initial share sale in its agricultural unit would not happen by the first half of 2024, while reporting a 41% drop in annual underlying profit on high interest rates and lower contribution from Olam Agri.

China's government has opted to not renew a tariff on imports of poultry products from Brazil, the South American nation said on Tuesday.

Saint Laurent designer Anthony Vaccarello trimmed down the label's silhouettes for winter, tightly wrapping models in sheer silk dresses in muted colours for a runway show on Tuesday.

Copper prices have traded at record highs in recent years, and although the red metal is facing strong headwinds in 2024, experts have positive expectations for the market in the years ahead.Prices for the base metal pulled back to three month lows in mid-February, dampened by continued lagging economic indicators in China. However, in the long term, many market watchers see tight supply and higher consumption from sectors like the electric vehicle industry creating a robust outlook for copper.Against that backdrop, the top ASX copper stocks have put on impressive year-to-date share price performances. The list below outlines the top gainers, and was generated on February 13, 2024, using TradingView’s stock screener; all copper stocks listed had market caps above AU$50 million at that time. Read on to learn more about them. 1. Xanadu Mines  (ASX:XAM) Yearly gain: 56.67 percent; market cap: AU$79.94 million; current share price: AU$0.047Xanadu Mines is a copper and gold exploration company with several advanced exploration projects in Mongolia. The company’s flagship project is the Kharmagtai copper-gold project.In the last quarter of 2023, the company released an upgraded resource estimate for Kharmagtai as part of its work toward completing a prefeasibility study for the project. The new resource estimate stands at 1.3 billion tonnes containing 3.4 million tonnes copper and 8.5 million ounces of gold, which represents a 15 percent increase in contained copper metal and a 9 percent increase in contained gold metal. Xanadu is on track to complete the prefeasibility study and a maiden ore reserve estimate for Kharmagtai by Q3 of this year. 2. Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR) Yearly gain: 48.48 percent; market cap: AU$100.56 million; current share price: AU$0.24Encounter Resources is targeting major copper projects in Australia. The company holds a 100 percent interest in a large portfolio of copper assets in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is also advancing numerous large-scale copper projects in partnership and funded through farm-in agreements with BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP), South32 (ASX:S32,LSE:S32,OTC Pink:SHTLF) and IGO (ASX:IGO,OTC Pink:IPGDF). In 2024, the company plans to release assay results from exploration work completed at its copper projects. This will include results from activities conducted at both the Sandover copper and Jessica copper-zinc projects located in the Northern Territory, and from work finished in the late fall at the Yeneena copper-cobalt project in Western Australia, which is part of Encounter's agreement with IGO. 3. Bougainville Copper (ASX:BOC) Yearly gain: 28.79 percent; market cap: AU$182.48 million; current share price: AU$0.42Bougainville Copper is working to reopen the past-producing Panguna copper complex, which ceased operations in 1989. Panguna is considered one of the largest copper deposits in the world, and according to the company, its successful restart is viewed as a critical component of future economic independence for the island. The Autonomous Bougainville Government holds a 36.5 percent share in the company.In early February 2024, after much deliberation, Bougainville Copper was granted a five year extension to its Panguna mining licence, which will open the door for advanced stage prefeasibility- and feasibility-stage exploration activities. 4. Hillgrove Resources (ASX:HGO) Yearly gain: 26.23 percent; market cap: AU$145.31 million; current share price: AU$0.08Australian mining company Hillgrove Resources recommenced operations at the Kanmantoo copper-gold mine in South Australia last year. Mining was previously carried out in open pits between 2010 and 2020, producing a total of around 137,000 tonnes of copper and 55,000 ounces of gold. Over the past few years, Hillgrove has worked to bring the mine back into production, including a 3.6 million tonne per year processing plant. The company started mining in May 2023, and announced first copper concentrate production in mid-February of this year.“First copper production from the Kanmantoo underground operation, and the transition to cashflow generation, is a watershed moment for the Company. Over the next few months, the mine output and copper production are expected to ramp up as the planned additional work areas are established underground," Hillgrove CEO and Managing Director Lachlan Wallace said in a press release. 5. Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) Yearly gain: 16.02 percent; market cap: AU$127.81 million; current share price: AU$1.05Hot Chili is focused on advancing its Costa Fuego copper-gold project in the Atacama region of Chile. Costa Fuego has an indicated resource of 2.8 million tonnes of copper, 2.6 million ounces of gold and 67,000 tonnes of molybdenum; its inferred resource stands at 0.6 million tonnes of copper, 1.2 million ounces of gold and 13,000 tonnes of molybdenum.In June 2023, Hot Chili published a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Costa Fuego showcasing strong economics with a low startup capital requirement and a projected 16 year mine life. "The Costa Fuego PEA cements Hot Chili’s position as the largest copper developer listed on the ASX by both resource size and potential scale of copper production," Managing Director Christian Easterday commented. Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time updates!Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, currently hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Raw sugar futures on ICE rose 3% on Tuesday to a two-week high amid more pessimistic views regarding the new crop at top grower Brazil which is lacking rain, while slipped back from the previous session's record highs.

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose for a second consecutive session on Tuesday, extending a slight recovery from their lowest levels in more than three years.

American Airlines is close to placing an order for about 100 narrowbody jets split between Airbus SE and Boeing, with the European planemaker likely to secure the larger part, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the talks.

Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro said on Tuesday that Mexico will impose tariffs on steel if the United States enacts such measures first.

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures closed firmer for the second consecutive session on Tuesday, as the market extended a rebound from three-year lows reached in the front-month contract on Monday.

French publishing company Lagardere said on Tuesday it had received an offer from luxury goods group LVMH to buy Paris Match magazine.

FXEmpire.com - Natural Gas Natural Gas 270224 Daily Chart Natural gas settled above the $1.80 level as traders switched to April contract. It looks that natural gas found a bottom near the support at $1.60 – $1.65.

German labour union Verdi has called for a three day nationwide strike at airline group Lufthansa from Wednesday Feb. 28 to Friday March 1.