Commodities | May 25 2010
By Greg Peel
Uranium sector consultant TradeTech has lowered its weekly uranium spot price indicator from US$41.25/lb to US$40.75/lb this week.
The drop is a disappointment given sellers had been hoping clearance of the big US Department of Energy sale order, which had been overhanging the market but was satisfied last week, would open the market up to some healthier trading levels.
There was indeed an immediate price jump, TradeTech reports, but this gave way later in the week such that Wednesday's prices were US$1.00 above Friday's prices. TradeTech takes an average of transaction prices to determine its weekly indicator.
Last week saw eight spot price transactions totalling one million pounds but none in the term market.
TradeTech suggests the price decline was prompted by a combination of factors including some sellers' need to raise cash, the availability of inventory insensitive to price, and general nervousness surrounding the European debt crisis and weaker euro.
With Europe hanging as a cloud over everything at present, it seems the uranium market is also in the shadows.
