* Oil fall pulls coal down by 50c/T
* Macro woes, lack of end-user buying weigh on prices
LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Pressure increased on prompt
South African coal prices on Monday as the market fell in line
with oil’s 1 percent drop and buyers backed away, scenting
further weakeness.
Oil fell by $1.64 a barrel to $109.78 earlier on Monday,
pulling down other commodity values with it.
Macro economic concerns also undermined the fragile
confidence in a coal price recovery any time soon, traders and
utilities said.
Stock markets and the euro fell on Monday as investors
looked past recently announced central bank stimulus plans and
focused instead on weak economic fundamentals and the euro
zone’s unresolved debt crisis.
“All the news today, whether it’s macro, or China, or oil,
has been bad, that’s pulled everything done – and the buyers
aren’t there,” one European trader said.
October loading South African cargoes were offered at $82.75
a tonne FOB Richards Bay on Monday, down around 50 cents from
Friday and with no bids seen.
Prompt South African prices fell to a low of $81.65 in June
but have since crept up into a slightly higher range of $83-$89.
Continued…
