LONDON: Copper prices jumped to their highest in eight months on Thursday, propelled by a softer US dollar after dovish comments from the Federal Reserve and a fall in LME stocks.
The Fed on Wednesday abandoned projections for further interest rates rises this year, triggering a slide in the dollar and making dollar-priced commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose 0.7 percent to $6,507 tonnes by 1222 GMT, after touching a session high of $6,555,50, its highest since July.
"You had a dovish Fed yesterday pushing the dollar down as a result and that is giving to a broad-brush lift to metals as a whole," said Citi analyst Oliver Nugent.
COPPER STOCKS: Headline stocks of copper in LME-approved warehouses fell 2,825 tonnes to 176,450 tonnes but are still up about 60 percent from a 2008 low touched a week ago.
Healthy stock levels elsewhere have supported the notion that the global copper market is not as tight as the LME market has suggested.
TRADE TARIFFS: US President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that the United States may leave tariffs on Chinese goods for a "substantial period" to ensure that Beijing complies with any trade agreement.
CHINA VISIT: A US trade delegation will visit China on March 28-29 for the next round of negotiations, China's commerce ministry said.
"There is a feeling of general optimism that (trade talks) will end up with the peaceful resolve," Citi's Nugent said.
"That is overhanging why copper is getting support through what has been a set of weak data points."
DEFICIT: The market was in a 387,000 tonne deficit in 2018 compared with a 265,000 tonne deficit the year before, the International Copper Study Group said.
PHILIPPINES NICKEL: Philippine nickel producer DMCI Mining Corp, a unit of conglomerate DMCI Holdings, said it expected 2019 to be a tough year, with one of its two mines still suspended and its inventory almost depleted.
NICKEL BALANCE: The global nickel market deficit widened to 1,000 tonnes in January from a revised deficit of 100 tonnes in December, the International Nickel Study Group said.
VALE DAM: Executives at Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore miner, quashed efforts by Brazilian authorities to audit one of the company's mining dams months before it collapsed and killed over 300 people, a state prosecutor said.
ZINC: Zinc stocks touched a record low of 57,825 tonnes. But the premium for cash zinc over the three-month LME contract stood at $33.50, down from $55 last week.
LME: Data shows a dominant holder of copper warrants and nearby futures positions, suggesting lending guidance is in play.
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