LONDON: Copper eased on Monday as a stronger dollar prompted some investors to cash in gains after last week's upbeat Chinese and US data lifted the metal to a five-week high overnight.
With US traders absent because of the Martin Luther King Day holiday and wider markets gearing up for US president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday, some buyers are taking the opportunity to realise profits in copper.
The metal posted its best weekly performance in seven last week, climbing nearly 6 percent, and touched its highest since Dec. 7 when it hit $5,930 a tonne overnight. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.1 percent at $5,885 in official midday trading.
"This is probably just a bit of a pause for breath," said Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Asa Bridle. "Everyone is watching and waiting to see what happens this week, with comments from the presidential inauguration and other bits and pieces. We have Janet Yellen speaking about US banking, and a lot of key economic indicators."
More broadly, the economic backdrop has been supportive for copper of late, he said, citing economic data from China.
Chinese customs data on Friday showed that the country shipped in a record 4.95 million tonnes of copper in 2016, while US data revealed retail sales there climbed in December.
LME nickel was untraded in official midday rings, but was last bid 1.4 percent lower at $10,300 a tonne, as news that Indonesia is easing a ban on nickel ore exports weighed on the stainless steel ingredient.
The retreat came despite assurances over the weekend from Indonesian mining officials that the step would not flood the global market with supply.
"We believe the lifting of the Indonesian nickel ore export ban creates uncertainty on the medium-term direction of nickel prices," Citi said in a note.
"There are a lot of uncertainties as to how much excess ore will actually come out of Indonesia given all the requirements to be fulfilled before export of ore can begin, the low nickel price (and the) need to ramp up (the) export infrastructure logistics chain."
LME zinc was down 0.7 percent in official trading at $2,770.50, while lead was up 0.7 percent at $2,322.
Aluminium and tin were untraded in official rings, but were last bid up 0.1 percent at $1,811 a tonne and down 0.1 percent at $21,125, respectively.
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