DBT Bureau
Pune, 24 Jan 2026
- Precious metals extended their rally to fresh record highs as investors continued shifting into safe haven bullion, with confidence in risk assets wavering amid geopolitical uncertainty despite a brief easing of tensions over Greenland.
- Spot gold hit a new record high of USD4967 a troy ounce, while spot silver shied away from USD100 a troy ounce.
- U.S. CPI data showed inflation holding relatively steady at 2.7% annually. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump welcomed the figures and renewed his call for Fed Chair Jerome Powell to implement “meaningful” interest rate cuts.
- Crude oil prices rebounded today after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed threats against major Middle Eastern producer Iran, heightening concerns of possible military action that could disrupt supply.
- China’s unwrought copper imports in 2025 fell to the lowest level since 2020, as high prices weighed on demand. The top consumer imported 5.32 million metric tonnes of unwrought copper in 2025, down 6.4% from 2024, the lowest since record-high imports in 2020. December imports increased 2.3% to 437,000 tons compared with November.
- China’s aluminium production crept above 45 million metric tonnes in 2025, largely in line with a government-mandated national output cap and marking a slowdown in growth from 2024. Full-year output in the world’s largest consumer and producer of the light metal rose 2.4% to 45.02 million tonnes, a slow down from the growth rate in 2024 of 4.6%.
- NYMEX natural gas futures slipped away from a three-year high, but prices remained on trajectory of a weekly gain on forecasts for much colder weather that is likely to lead to wells freezing and higher heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected.
- Meanwhile, European Union gas storage facilities have now fallen below 50% capacity, standing nearly 14 billion cubic meters under their five year average. In 2025, EU sourced 27% of its total gas and LNG imports from the U.S.
Source: Geojit Investments
