KUALA LUMPUR (June 11): The Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) will be closed for trading next week following the suspension of Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd’s (MSC) operations during the full movement control order (FMCO) period, said a dealer.
However, the dealer said the market reopening is pending an announcement on the FMCO by the government.
Malaysia has gone into a two-week total lockdown for all social and economic sectors from June 1 until next Monday, June 14.
“KLTM trading depends on the opening of MSC as its main trader. Until further announcements made by MSC, KLTM will also suspend all its activities,” he told Bernama.
On Wednesday, MSC issued a notice of force majeure and temporarily suspended its tin mining and smelting operations from June 4 to 14 in adherence to the enforcement of the FMCO.
For the week just ended, the KLTM was traded only for one day on Tuesday following the holiday-shortened week, as well as the closure of MSC.
The local tin price closed US$100 (RM411.30) lower at US$31,550 a tonne on Tuesday from the previous week’s close at US$31,650, with buying support from China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and European countries.
As per the only trading day, weekly turnover declined to 13 tonnes from 60 tonnes previously.
The price differential between the KLTM and London Metal Exchange (LME) narrowed to a premium of US$915 a tonne from a premium of US$1,450 last week.
