London / Singapore, 24 January 2011

The London Metal Exchange ( LME) has published its first set of Asian Benchmark prices – new unofficial three month futures prices for aluminium, copper and zinc, which will bring further transparency to Asian markets trading on the LME.

Recent growth in trading on LMEselect, the Exchange’s electronic trading platform, during the Asian time zones (before 07:00 London time) reflects the increasing demand in Asia for access to LME metal markets. Last year, three month futures trading on LMEselect during the Asian time zones more than doubled to 1,941,680 lots from 904,173 lots in 2009. In total, 14.0% of all three months futures trading on LMEselect was transacted during this period, compared with 10.1% in 2009.

The first Asian Benchmark prices

Aluminium – US$2432.00

Copper – US$9550.00

Zinc – US$2345.64

From today (24 January), Asian Benchmark prices will be derived from trading volumes on LMEselect between 3.00 pm and 3.15pm and published at 3.30pm on a daily basis (Singapore/ Hong Kong /Shanghai time) and 7.30 am in London. During British Summer Time (BST) prices will be published at 3.30 pm in Singapore/ Hong Kong and 8.30 am in London.

Liz Milan, Managing Director, LME Asia, said, “The new Asian Benchmark is a firm acknowledgement of the importance of Asian trading to the LME. The growth in Asian participation has been phenomenal over the last few years and these new reference prices will provide a transparent view of the sentiment across the continent’s key metal and financial markets.”

The Asian Benchmark will be available on LMElive and through the Exchange’s approved network of data vendors at no separate fee or licence cost.

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