Yahua Group expects net profit attributable to shareholders for the first half of 2026 to reach RMB 1.1-1.3 billion, up 710.17%-857.48% year-on-year. The company said stronger lithium salt prices and higher sales volumes significantly boosted revenue during the period. Improved production efficiency, optimized mine-to-market operations, and tighter cost control also contributed to higher profitability.

Levima Advanced Materials expects net profit attributable to shareholders for the first half of 2026 to reach RMB 4.0-4.3 billion, up 149%-168% year-on-year. The company said earnings growth was driven by capacity ramp-up at its new materials project, while higher utilization rates and increased sales of lithium battery carbonate solvents, polylactic acid (PLA), and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) also contributed to improved performance.

02 July 2026 Precious metals ended a record FY25/26 on a soft footing, with the USD gold price falling by close to 15% between March and June, its worst quarterly performance in more than a decade. This price fall—which began at the end of January—was caused by a strengthening U.S. dollar, a sharp rise in bond yields, a complete 180 from the market as it relates to interest rate expectations (with rate hikes in the United States now priced in), liquidity needs caused by the U.S.-Iran war, and a washout of the extreme bullishness and speculation that had crept into the gold and silver market earlier this year. There was also a huge surge in the stock market between March and early June (the S&P 500 was up over 20% during this period) as euphoria took over any tech- or AI-related trades. In the short-term at least, this diminished the safe-haven appeal of precious metals. While the pullback has been painful for some, it was certainly not unexpected—and was in many ways necessary, as long-term bull markets in any asset classes do require periodic consolidations. Importantly, the pullback has likely done its worst in terms of performance and price falls. It has also totally reset sentiment in the precious metal market, with euphoria replaced by fear and/or apathy—typically the kind of market conditions that reward buyers. It is also worth pointing out that despite the sell-off over the past five months, both gold and silver ended the financial year delivering strong gains for Australian investors, with the AUD gold price rising by 16%, while silver was up by over 50%. Take a longer-term view and the results are even more impressive, with the gold price up by more than 100% since June 2023. Silver has rallied by close to 150% over the same period, with the two precious metals strongly outperforming traditional assets over this period. The strong rally over the past three years has been driven by multiple factors, including: Strong Central Bank Buying : Central banks bought 3,000 tonnes of gold between 2003 and 2025, with a further 243 tonnes of buying in Q1 2026. Surveys of central bankers suggest holdings will continue to grow, with gold set to play a more important role as a reserve asset in the decade ahead. ETF Inflows in 2025: ETF holders were substantial net sellers between 2021 and 2024, with net sales each year and a total of 544 tonnes coming out of these products in that period. The tide turned from late 2024 onward, with almost 1,000 tonnes of inflows seen in the last 18 months. Surge in Demand for Retail Bars and Coins : Global bar and coin demand was 42% higher year-on-year in Q1 2026, while buying from this segment of the market topped 1,400 tonnes in 2025 (up 16% on 2024). A longer-term view is even more eye-opening, with gold bar and coin buying from 2023-2025 inclusive topping 3,800 tonnes (more than 30% of all mine output in that period). That level of buying is 13% higher than we saw in the three-year window from 2020-2022 inclusive, a period that included the Covid-19 pandemic. Source: World Gold Council Q1 2026 Gold Demand Trends When you factor in dollar-based spending on bars and coins—with gold prices substantially higher in the 2023-2026 window vs the 2020-2023 window—the result is even more impressive. Outlook For 2026/27 Financial Year ABC Bullion remains optimistic on the outlook for bullion this year, with the huge pullback that we have seen in the last five months setting a base from which the long-term bull market can resume. The challenges posed by overvaluation assets remain unresolved, with the S&P 500 starting this new financial year trading above 40-times cyclically adjusted earnings. Inflation remains at problematic levels, with no easy way to use interest rates to bring it down, given the debt and deficit levels seen across the developed world, headlined by the United States, which will soon clock over USD $40 trillion in debt. I can personally remember when that number was closer to USD $10 trillion when the Global Financial Crisis hit. Heightened geopolitical conflict will be with us for the foreseeable future, creating permanent uncertainty as it relates to energy security and the potential for commodity price shocks. Last but not least, Western investors remain very lightly exposed to genuine safe-haven assets that can help protect their portfolio and provide a source of growth during otherwise challenging periods. Government bonds—which are likely to be a source of return-free risk, rather than risk-free return—will likely continue to drag on investor portfolios, with physical gold the only asset that has the market size, the liquidity and the risk/return profile to fill that gap. With a textbook correction now played out, sentiment readings that have historically been followed by an average 16% gain in the year that followed, and a 100% win-rate (data thanks to Sentiment Trader ), now is a great time to be looking to add more bullion to a portfolio. Until next time. Source： https://www.abcbullion.com/insights/market-updates/gold-set-for-a-strong-rally-as-new-financial-year-begins

Shandong mines and beneficiation plants' tax-inclusive, dry basis offer for 64% Fe alkaline fines is 817, up 3. Steel mills raised accordingly. Miners are mostly operating normally; some have inventory accumulation, but most face little inventory pressure. Sales from small plants and traders are average. Recently, steel mills have mainly been purchasing as needed. Domestic iron ore's cost-effectiveness is relatively weak, and overall the desire to push for lower prices is relatively strong. In the short term, local iron ore concentrate transactions are average. Recently, imported iron ore supply has been relatively ample, coupled with the weak trend in iron ore futures. Affected by this, it is estimated that local iron ore concentrate prices may show weak consolidation in the short term. [SMM Steel]

Published: Jul 04, 2026 - 2:01 AM (Kitco News) – Even as U.S. Treasury yields and a stronger dollar continue to limit gold’s upside, growing diversification demand, central bank buying and ETF inflows should support further price gains for the yellow metal by the end of 2026, according to HSBC. "Gold did not rally during the Middle East conflict and has largely moved in tandem with equities,” HSBC Global Chief Investment Officer Willem Sels and Global Head of Wealth Insights Lucia Ku wrote. “Our analysis indicates that US yields are the primary driver of gold prices. We believe gold may remain range-bound in the near term amid elevated real yields and a stronger USD. However, demand for portfolio diversification, central bank buying and steady ETF inflows should support gold prices over the medium term.” “We continue to view gold as an effective diversifier against broader portfolio risks." Sels and Ku said their analysis indicates that U.S. Treasury yields are currently acting as the primary driver of gold’s price action. “When yields rise, the opportunity cost of holding a non-yielding asset increases, putting pressure on gold prices,” they said. “Moreover, gold has been less effective as an equity hedge in 2026, having largely moved in tandem with equities.” HSBC believes gold will likely remain rangebound in the near term in the face of elevated real yields and a strong U.S. dollar. “However, demand for portfolio diversification, central bank purchases and steady ETF inflows continue to support our bullish view on gold and its role as a diversifier against broader portfolio risks,” they said. “We anticipate further upside for gold by year-end." On May 11, James Steel, Chief Precious Metals Analyst at HSBC, said that gold has performed exactly as it should throughout the Iran conflict . “The demand has been good out of China,” Steel said. “The Shanghai Gold Exchange premium – the difference between the domestic price in China and the global price – is around $20, indicating strong domestic demand in China, which is mostly on the institutional side. It's interesting; it's less on jewelry and coins and small bars, which we have seen traditionally, and more on the large bars, more for institutions, because we had some regulatory reform in both China and India. Now the top insurance companies in China are allowed to accumulate bullion, and asset managers in India are allowed to accumulate it as well.” “But in addition to that, we saw surprisingly strong buying in the latest data from the central bank, from the People's Bank of China, who bought 8.1 tonnes for the last month's data.” Steel was asked what he learned from gold’s peak around $5,400 per ounce in late January, and its subsequent decline amid the Middle East conflict. “Well, I think the run up was a little robust,” he said. “We were bringing in a lot of money that had not been in the market for quite some time, or had not traded gold at all. One could argue that the market had become overly long, particularly when you look at CFTC data and other things we have available now.” “There's been a lot of critics of the bullion market saying that the decline since the strikes on Iran and escalating oil prices, [claiming] that gold is not a safe haven, that it’s failed in some sense,” Steel said. “I would argue exactly the opposite, because as the oil went up and we got restoked inflationary fears, and bond yields rose, and the dollar rose, equities declined. In that atmosphere, ready cash was needed. And that's what gold provides you.” “We did see liquidation in the gold market, but mostly as a reaction to the financial market,” he added. “In a sense, gold was an insurance policy, and that insurance policy was being cashed in.” Steel was also questioned on his views of gold’s historical relationship with oil prices. “Well, that's interesting, because I'm old enough to remember when it was a positive relationship,” he replied. “We've done some work on this. In the 1970s, gold was positively correlated with oil: Oil ran up, and so did gold. In the 1980s, that was the same; oil fell and gold also fell.” “Now, that correlation seemed to break apart as we got into the 90s, as oil was a less significant part of the global economy,” he said. “That correlation is now only about 0.15, or even negative at times… It's negative at the moment.” Finally, Steel was asked whether he views gold as one of several alternative assets within investor portfolios, or whether he sees it as a standalone asset. “Well, I think you could argue that it is an alternative asset,” he said. “It’s certainly quite unique, in the sense that it's a hard asset and it's also highly liquid. It doesn't correlate to Apple or Nvidia, it tends not to, over the long run anyway. Things like Canadian farmland, for instance, that's also a hard asset, but you can't liquidate it quickly. And that's the beauty of gold. It's both a hard asset, and it's highly liquid, highly traded.” “But what you have touched on, and I think we will see it back again, is many asset managers who never before have included gold in their portfolio, are beginning to do that, because they're looking for alternatives.” And on April 2, Sels and Ku said that despite gold’s recent underperformance, the rise of cross-asset correlations makes the yellow metal more valuable than ever as a portfolio diversifier, and they remain bullish on gold’s long-term outlook . Sels and Ku reiterated their constructive outlook on gold over the next six months, and said the bank is maintaining its Overweight positioning. "Inflation concerns have also led to rate volatility and a repricing of monetary policy expectations,” they noted. “Policymakers are likely to maintain current interest rates for some time before easing later. We continue to seek quality yields from investment-grade credit and EM local currency bonds for income generation.” “However, as cross-asset correlations have increased, we use gold and alternative assets to enhance diversification,” Sels and Lu underlined. “Despite the recent pullback, we remain bullish on gold over the medium to long term due to its diversification benefits and safe-haven demand.” The analysts added that they still expect gold’s recent headwinds to be short-lived, as the underlying fundamentals remain supportive. “Gold continues to serve as a compelling portfolio diversifier amid geopolitical uncertainty and central bank buying,” they wrote. HSBC has held fast to their positive outlook for the yellow metal throughout the recent pullback. On March 30, analysts at HSBC Asset Management said gold is behaving more like a risk asset in 2026, selling off sharply amid heightened geopolitical tensions and a stronger dollar, but the de-dollarization trend still makes it a good long-term investment . "Moves in the gold price since the Iran conflict broke out have defied expectations,” the analysts wrote. “The conventional playbook assumed that mounting geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty would naturally boost the yellow metal, mirroring last year’s ‘Liberation Day’ episode and sustaining a spectacular two-year rally.” Instead, the yellow metal has done the opposite, they noted, losing 15% to date in March. “A stronger US dollar has certainly been a headwind, deterring non-US buyers, while a hawkish repricing of interest rates has increased the opportunity cost of holding a non-yielding asset,” the analysts said. “Yet, gold withstood a similar surge in the greenback and rates throughout 2022, weakening this traditional thesis.” HSBC believes gold is actually behaving like a risk asset in 2026. “Ownership has shifted towards retail and other leveraged buyers, many of whom are forced to liquidate holdings in periods of market stress,” they noted. "There remains a decent long-term investment case for gold, particularly amid ongoing global de-dollarisation,” the analysts said. “However, the recent volatility offers a stark reminder: robust portfolio diversification demands a broad-based approach." Source： https://www.kitco.com/news/article/2026-07-03/we-anticipate-further-upside-gold-year-end-hsbcs-sels-and-ku

Brazil's crude steel output fell 1.9% y-o-y to 13.4m tonnes in Jan-May 2026. Despite modest monthly recovery, apparent consumption dropped 4.1% amid a 17% import decline. In May, output rose 2.4% m-o-m and domestic sales edged up 1.3%, but apparent consumption fell 14.1% y-o-y due to imports (-55.4%) and exports (-35%) plunging. The data shows the steel industry remains under pressure from both weak domestic demand and shrinking foreign trade volumes.