LONDON: Copper edged lower on Wednesday ahead of a news conference by US President-elect Donald Trump, having earlier hit a four-week high after upbeat Chinese and global economic data fuelled expectations for firm demand this year.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.2 percent at $5,750.50 a tonne at 1035 GMT, off a peak of $5,788.50, its highest since Dec. 13.
The metal surged more than 10 percent in the month following Trump's election to the US presidency on Nov. 8, as his pledge to boost infrastructure spending unleashed a wave of investment in industrial commodities.
It softened into year-end as some investors tempered those expectations, but has since taken support from a wave of positive economic data from around the world.
"The strength that we've seen since November has mainly been on the prospect of increased fiscal spending in the United States," Danske Bank analyst Jens Pedersen said. "But we still need to see more specific plans (from Trump), so today's speech will be interesting for the copper market."
"The underlying story is that manufacturing indicators still look good, which could suggest that the global economy has got off to a good start in 2017," he added.
"That is supporting prices also." Further underpinning the metal are rising concerns over supply disruptions. Workers at Chile's Escondida copper mine - the world's biggest - have already rejected a wage offer from BHP Billiton, raising the prospect of a strike. World stocks retreated and the dollar steadied ahead of Trump's news conference at 1600 GMT.
While his election campaign calls for tax cuts and more infrastructure spending have boosted many assets, including stocks and metal, his protectionist statements and a flurry of tweets have kept many investors from adding to risky positions.
"A number of market participants are likely to have been positioning themselves ahead of the press conference that Donald Trump has announced for today," Commerzbank said in a note.
"The market hopes that Trump will paint a clearer picture of his planned economic, trade and foreign policy."
Lead and zinc continued their push higher after the previous session's rally, buoyed by supply concerns. Processing fees for China's zinc smelters reached record lows last month as the supply from mines continued to dwindle.
LME lead was up 0.8 percent at $2,207 a tonne, having rallied nearly 6 percent in the last two sessions. Zinc was 0.5 percent higher at $2,734 a tonne.
LME nickel was 0.3 percent down at $10,585, while aluminium was up 0.1 percent at $1,751.50 a tonne, and tin was 0.1 percent higher at $21,170.
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