A drop in metals prices was partly to blame for a decline in the Bank of Nova Scotia’s commodity price index in March. The all-items index was off 0.8% from the previous month but remained 4% higher than one year ago.
The metals and minerals sub-index declined 2.9% in March but remained 22.9% higher than it was a year ago. Aluminum, nickel and molybdenum prices were all lower in the month.
Copper prices retreated in late April because of investment fund selling on expectations of rising Chinese sales on the London Metal Exchange and a seasonal pickup in Russian exports, bank economist Patricia Mohr says.
“After leading the recovery last year, copper prices are beginning to wane as traders anticipate substantial mine development in Chile, the U.S. and Indonesia,” she says.
In March, falling metals and agricultural prices more than offset additional strength in forest products and rebounding oil prices.
Mohr says a decline in U.S. industrial production in March, which is partly linked to lower auto output, provided further evidence of a slowing economy.
The all-commodity index tracks export prices of various Canadian commodities, which are weighted according to their 1984 export values (except crude oil, for which the value of net exports is used).
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