Glencore hopes for improved metal trading

First-quarter results in June from the world’s largest diversified commodities trader missed forecasts and have weighed on the shares, down by almost a third since its record May listing.

The group was hit by the impact of the Japanese earthquake and lower demand as well as lower than expected growth at some of its industrial assets.

Analysts said they expected slightly weaker income from Glencore’s overall trading arm in the second quarter compared with the first, after unusually strong conditions for oil in the first three months of the year eased.

But that would be partly offset by an improvement in metals trading – a key contributor to its bottom line.