Copper climbs

Copper rose to its highest in a week on Tuesday after better-than-expected US retail sales data consolidated earlier gains made on data from China, which eased global growth concerns and boosted risk appetite. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange rose to a session high of $9,172 per tonne after the US data, before closing at $9,170 from Monday's close of $8,910.
US retail sales fell in May for the first time in 11 months as receipts at auto dealerships dropped sharply, but the decline was less than expected. "This hints that the soft patch may be temporary," said Gennadiy Goldberg, an analyst at 4cast Ltd in New York.
Earlier, data showed China's inflation accelerated to 5.5 percent in May, but was in line with expectations. Industrial output, with a rise of 13.3 percent, was also in line with forecasts. Hours after the data, Beijing increased the reserve requirement ratio for its commercial lenders by another 50 basis points, its sixth increase this year. "The impact of the reserve requirement ratio rise was limited. I think more market players are looking at the economic data itself, which came in line," Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said.
China is the world's top copper consumer. Other data showed its refined copper output dropped 3.3 percent on the month in May after falling 3.4 percent in April, due to reduced supply of scrap and the country's power shortages. Copper prices were also supported by a three-week contractor strike at the world's No 5 copper mine, Chile's El Teniente, which will hit output, the company's chief executive said.
Also, copper inventories at LME warehouses retreated further from one-year highs, down by 2,075 tonnes to 473,675 tonnes. Aluminium closed at $2,627 from $2,590 a tonne at the close on Monday. China's production of nickel, primary aluminium and its raw material alumina hit records in May on increased capacity that could see aluminium output rise further in June.
Norsk Hydro's chief financial officer said that financing deals were helping to drive aluminium prices but they still had performed poorly compared with other base metals. Tin closed at $25,650 from $24,795 a tonne, having hit its lowest since December at $24,510. "The run in tin prices earlier this year to a series of record highs led to an increase in exports from Indonesia and China and consumer destocking," Standard Bank said in a note. Zinc untraded at the close, was bid at $2,280 from $2,248 a tonne and lead closed at $2,580 from $2,535 a tonne. Nickel was $22,315 from $22,275 a tonne.