Copper dips on Trump impeachment inquiry, US-China trade

• The markets are not only being driven by the US-China trade issue.
• US impeachment inquiry was launched amid further uncertainty over US-China trade talks.

LONDON: Copper prices slipped on Wednesday as investors pulled back from riskier assets after a US impeachment inquiry was launched amid further uncertainty over US-China trade talks.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives decided to hold impeachment hearings into President Donald Trump, helping to pressure world stocks to fall to a two-week low.

Trump also delivered a stinging rebuke to China's trade practices in a speech on Tuesday.

"The markets are not only being driven by the US-China trade issue, they are also lower because of the broad risk aversion sentiment due to the latest events in the UK and US, maybe primarily in the US," Xiao Fu, head of commodity market strategy at Bank of China International.

"In copper I think there's a tug of war between the macro headwinds and the fundamentals, because inventory levels are quite low, so we may see rangebound trade."

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.5pc at $5,754 a tonne by 1045 GMT.

COPPER STOCKS: On-warrant LME copper inventories - material that is not earmarked for delivery - fell to 183,925 tonnes, the lowest since May 28, data showed.

NICKEL: LME benchmark nickel added 0.2pc to $17,215 a tonne, erasing earlier losses, after data showed that China's refined nickel imports more than doubled year on year in August and shipments from top producer Indonesia rose 26.5pc year on year.

LEAD: LME lead rose 0.9pc to $2,075.50 a tonne, getting support from a large position in LME inventories. Data showed one party had 50pc-70pc of available LME stocks.

CHINA STAINLESS STEEL: Chinese stainless steel futures  fell 2pc in their first session of trading, after Trump's rebuke of China fanned demand concerns.

CHINA SCRAP: China issued a fourth batch of quotas for imports of recently restricted types of scrap metal, including another 31,658 tonnes of high-grade copper scrap, as the world's top metals consumer continues to curb inbound scrap shipments.

PRICES: LME aluminium fell 0.3pc to $1,757, zinc  eased 0.8pc to $2,263 and tin shed 0.3pc to $16,455.