Mining stocks on the FTSE 100 index are having a good day. This is exemplified by the surge in the Rio Tinto share price. This Wednesday, the stock has had a strong showing after it soared 4.02%. The stock had traded as high as 5.71% earlier in the session, but a slight pullback on some intraday profit-taking has come into play. Still, the gains were large enough to send it to the number 2 spot on the FTSE 100 index’s gainers’ chart.
The Rio Tinto share price experienced several days of steep declines after the company reported shipments, and iron ore production from its mines fell in the first quarter compared with a similar period the previous year. For example, iron ore production from its Pilbara subsidiary declined 6% year-on-year, while shipments dropped 8%. The same fate befell its copper production and mining of titanium oxide slag, with output decline of 4% and 2%, respectively.
However, the company expects shipments and ore production to pick up in the second half of 2021. Monday’s steep 5.16% drop in the Rio Tinto share price came from Barclays’ downgrade of the stock from equal weight to underweight. However, five Wall Street analysts have a 12-month price target of $92.00, representing a 33.84% upside potential.
The intraday violation of the 5615 resistance needs a price/time filter confirmation of a breakout before the door flings open towards 5799 (11 February high and 8 March low). Additional upside barriers are found at 5975 and 6073 (30 March and 21 April lows). If these barriers are uncapped by the bulls, the door towards 6211 (4 March and 8 April highs) will fling open.
On the flip side, the bears would need to force a decline below the 5510 support initially before 5349 becomes available as new support. Other pivots are found at the 16 March low (283) and 5200 (24 January low).
This post was last modified on Apr 27, 2022, 16:47 BST 16:47