London copper flat as investors eye crucial Fed decision

London copper prices, often used to gauge global economic health, were flat on Wednesday as investors cautiously awaited outcome of the US Federal Reserve's policy meet for cues on how soon the central bank would start raising interest rates.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was flat at $9,416 a tonne, as of 0330 GMT, hovering close to the one-week low hit in the previous session.

The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 0.2% at 68,760 yuan ($10,804.53) a tonne.

The US central bank's two-day policy meeting is due to wrap up later in the day with investors expecting the Fed to announce a faster end of its bond-buying programme and then proceed with an interest rate hike from near zero.

An early rate hike could trim liquidity in financial markets and slow recovery in the world's biggest economy.

Fundamentals

• LME aluminium eased 0.3% to $2,619.5 a tonne, zinc fell 1% to $3,270.5 a tonne, nickel was steady at $19,500 a tonne and lead was down 0.7% at $2,268 a tonne.

• ShFE aluminium fell 0.8% to 19,065 yuan a tonne, nickel dropped 0.9% to 142,080 yuan a tonne, lead was down 2.6% at 15,335 yuan a tonne and tin was 1.8% lower at 281,550 yuan a tonne.

• China's central bank injected funds into the financial system through medium-term loans on Wednesday, while keeping the interest rate unchanged for the 20th month in a row.

• China's aluminium output in November fell slightly from the previous month, official data showed, hit by an explosion at a smelter in Yunnan and lingering curbs on energy consumption.

• Peru's government on Tuesday failed to host a planned meeting between MMG Ltd's Las Bambas copper mine and a local community that has been blocking the road used by the firm to transport its metal for 25 days, threatening a complete production halt.

• The global nickel market saw a small surplus of 5,000 tonnes in October compared with a shortfall of 3,100 tonnes a month earlier, data from the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) showed.