Berenberg: diamond prices starting the year on a relatively lacklustre note.

Berenberg, Germany’s oldest owner-managed private bank,  has downgraded the ratings of several junior miners, among the Gem Diamonds, and reduced its target prices for others such as Petra Diamonds and Firestone Diamonds PLC and has published “a cautious note on the gemstone sector,” Proactiveinvestors of the UK reported on its website. 

“The German bank cut its stance on Gem to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ and chopped its target price to 95p from 120p, with the stock currently trading at 93p. It reduced its target price for Petra to 22p from 30p, while maintaining a ‘hold’ rating, with the stock trading at 18.11p; and cut its target for Firestone to 2p from 3p on which it maintained a ‘sell’ rating, with the shares trading at 2.38p, “ the company stated.

In a note to clients, Berenberg’s analysts wrote: “We have returned from a recent trip to diamond trading, cutting and polishing centre Antwerp where we met with diamond industry participants across the value chain in order to take the temperature of the diamond market. Sentiment is mixed, with rough diamond prices starting the year on a relatively lacklustre note, but at least remaining stable, rather than weakening. The midstream remains under pressure in terms of margins and there are rising concerns about industry bankruptcies, which are weighing on sentiment. Demand for polished diamonds is stable, but with limited uplift in polished prices, we think there is little near-term impetus for rough prices to be dragged higher by rising polished prices.”