LONDON, June 24, 2026, 10:07 BST
Glencore dropped 2.2% to 523.5 pence on Wednesday. Shares are now down 6.3% since Monday’s close. The FTSE 100 traded near flat in early London moves.
Glencore slid 4.22% on Tuesday, steeper than the FTSE 100’s 0.09% dip. On Wednesday, Rio Tinto shed about 0.8% and Anglo American lost 1.1%, putting Glencore behind other London-listed miners.
Glencore traded 45.6 million shares Tuesday, up from 22.3 million on Monday. The stock ended Wednesday about 14% under its June 3 close of 608.3p. The big jump in volume leaves less room to call the drop a result of light trading.
Copper futures hovered close to $6.13 a pound, slipping around 3.7% over the past month. Prices dropped below the $6.14-$6.17 support area that Reuters market analyst Christopher Romano mentioned Monday. Support is where buyers have often come in. Romano warned that losing that level would “undermine the bullish case entirely”. Trading Economics
Glencore’s first-quarter copper output increased 19% to 199,600 metric tons, but full-year guidance stays at 810,000-870,000 tons. The company sees 52% of this year’s copper production coming in the second half. Steelmaking-coal is skewed even further, with 56% expected after June. That puts more weight on the back half for Glencore’s production numbers.
Oil slipped. Brent crude dropped 1.8% to $75.71 a barrel, the lowest since February 27. Tim Waterer at KCM Trade said the market is pricing in “Iranian oil re-entering the global market”. Siebert Financial’s Mark Malek said traders may be putting “too much confidence” in the chances for a positive result from U.S.-Iran talks. Reuters
Glencore’s physical crude trades show a different side of its business. The company bought an August-loading cargo of Angolan Nemba crude from Eni at $7.95 a barrel under dated Brent. Cash Dubai flipped to a 27-cent discount after trading at a premium above $60 in March. June Goh, senior analyst at Sparta Commodities, said Asian refiners have “already been well supplied for the next two months.” Some prompt cargoes are now priced in contango, with near-term barrels costing less than later ones. This can leave room for traders with ships, storage and buyers to pick up a margin, though Glencore hasn’t disclosed the terms on the Nemba cargo. Reuters
Glencore said in April its marketing arm is still on track to beat its $3.5 billion annual EBIT ceiling. EBIT means profit before interest and tax. The cheap Nemba purchase shows the division is trading in a market with large gaps between grades and locations, even as lower benchmark prices weigh on how the market values the mining and energy business.
Talk of M&A still lingers. Rio executive Jérôme Pécresse wouldn’t say if Glencore talks were back on, pointing to a takeover standstill that lasts until August.
Glencore holds about 12% over its February 5 close of 467p, when talks with Rio broke down. Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina said at that time, “It is possible that the two companies re-engage at some point in the future, but that is not our base case.” The pullback in June narrowed the premium since the deal talks collapsed, but hasn’t closed it. Reuters
Glencore’s energy and steelmaking-coal trading EBIT dropped 32% to $614 million in 2025, even as traded volumes climbed 11% to 4.2 million barrels a day. There are limits to the trading offset. Cheap physical crude is often a signal of poor end demand, not just a trading win. If mining earnings are weak in the second half, more of the earnings case will rest on the marketing forecast from April.
