960429

London commodity

mostly slow,

some recovery

LONDON: There were signs of prices recovering in several commodity markets on Tuesday as trading slowly got back into gear after a long holiday weekend in Europe and the United States.

Trading in base metals was largely routine on the London Metal Exchange (LME) as the recent market leader, copper, settled into a narrow range and was last priced at $2,436.

Potential changes to established nickel ranges could follow wholesale managment changes at Russia's giant Norilsk plant deep in Siberia.

A company offical said it had purged its top management as part of a strategy to change the way it sells nickel on world markets and that Norilsk was considering selling some of its nickel directly to a Swiss company instead of to subsidiaries that resell the metal on world markets.

Exports from Norilsk had been labelled the key factor in maintaining a supply-demand balance in the west's nickel market, traders said.Nickel was indicated at $8,000, up $140 in a correction to last week's sell-off.

The U.S. grain markets were mostly lower after rumours of high weekend plantings overcame initial concerns over midwest weather. In Europe, markets ignored reports of crop losses in Rumania.

On the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, July spring wheat futures fell their 20-cent daily limit on talk that spring wheat plantings in the U.S. north central plains had progressed.

Spring wheat was down 19 1/4 cents at $5.80-1/2 after going limit down. The weekly crop progress report due later on Tuesday was rumoured to show "significant" planting over the weekend.

Romania increased its forecast on Tuesday of the area and wheat harvest hit by late snows, saying up to 460,000 hectares were affected, cutting more than 1.0 million from the expected 1996 harvest and hitting export potential.

The 1995 crop was 7.8 million tonnes and Romania has sold 1.2 million tonnes this year.

Gold closed firmer at $392.15, up $1.30 but failed to expand on gains as the market marked time ahead of the expiry of options in New York on Wednesday.

The soft commodity markets were also quiet with white sugar futures easing in tandem with New York. They opened on a firm note as August reached a session high of $380.00 but they surrendered gains later and moved into negative territory.

The benchmark August contract stood 40 cents down on the day at $377.00 while further forwards recorded larger losses.

Some leading commodity prices at 1600 GMT.

Tuesday Friday

GOLD ($ ounce) 392.153 90.85

IPE Brent ($/barrel) (July) 19.00 19.08

(Ldn Metal Exch)

COPPER (Three months $/tonne) 2,436.00 2,428.00

ALUMINIUM ($/tonne) 1,582.00 1,588.00

(Ldn futures)

COFFEE ($/tonne) (July) 1,810.00 1,795.00

COCOA (sterling/tonne) (July) 1,108.00 1,116.00

WHITE SUGAR ($/tonne) (Aug) 375.90 376.30-Reuter