Glencore share price is holding steady close to its all-time high even after the company agreed to pay $1.1 billion fine for bribery and market manipulation. The GLEN stock is trading at 526p, which is a few points below its all-time high of 540p. The stock is about 20% above the lowest level this month, bringing the company’s market valuation to over 70 billion pounds.
Glencore made headlines last week when it pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and market manipulation. The company was accused of bribing foreign officials by officials in New York, Londo, and Brazil. The investigation showed that the company dished out bribes to government officials in countries like Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and DRC among others. At the same time, its trading arm was accused of manipulating oil prices at two US ports.
The Glencore share price rose after the settlement was announced for two main reasons. First, the settlement means that the company’s management will now have more time to focus on the day-to-day operations. Second, most analysts believed that the country will settle anyway. Besides, it is widely known that oil, gas, and mining corruption is often inevitable since these companies operate in some of the most corrupt countries. In a recent note, Third Point, a well-known hedge fund said:
“With a new management team in place, an improved ESG profile, very strong cash returns to shareholders, and government settlements, we believe that Glencore can close the substantial 28% discount at which it trades to other global miners.”
Glencore share price forecast
The GLEN share price has been in a strong recovery phase in the past few weeks. In this period, the stock has managed to move from a low of 440p to an all-time high of 540p. As it rose, the shares managed to move above the important resistance level at 502p, which was the upper chin of the double-bottom pattern.
Now, the Glencore share price has formed what looks like a double-top pattern and is still about 25-day and 50-day moving averages. Therefore, while the overall trend is bullish, we can’t rule out a situation where the stock makes a pullback in May. If this happens, the next key support level to watch will be at 500p.
