London copper ticks up but heads for worst week in four months

London copper nudged up on Friday but was set for its worst week in four months amid a surging dollar and concerns about demand from top consumer China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.6% to $9,042 per metric ton by 0710 GMT after hitting a three-month low on Thursday.

It has fallen more than 4% for the week.

The most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) close 0.3% higher at 73,860 yuan ($10,215.06) a ton, but was down 4.6% for the week.

The dollar was headed for its best week in more than a month, driven by Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election and expectations of fewer US rate cuts.

A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced metals costlier for holders of other currencies.

“We expect industrial metal prices to remain highly sensitive to any stimulus announcements from Mainland China, with market sentiment tilted towards further support in an anticipation of renewed trade tensions with China under a second Trump presidency,” analysts at BMI said.

Data showed that China’s factory output growth slowed in October and it was still too early to call a turn in the crisis-hit property sector even though consumers perked up, keeping alive calls for Beijing to top-up its recent blitz of stimulus to revitalise the economy.

China’s property sector is the biggest consumer of base metals.

However, copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the SHFE fell 6.6% from last Friday, the exchange said.

LME aluminium added 0.6% at $2,532 a ton, nickel ticked down 0.2% to $15,595, zinc increased 0.2% to $2,949.5, lead rose 0.2% to $1,963.5 and tin firmed 1.2% to $29,280.

Copper prices fall to attract consumers buying

SHFE aluminium gained 0.5% to 20,780 yuan a ton, nickel declined 1.5% to 123,140 yuan, lead dropped 1.5% to 16,760 yuan, zinc lost 0.3% at 24,640 yuan, and tin fell 0.4% to 243,530 yuan.

China’s October aluminium output rose from a year earlier, as strong demand and higher prices offset rising raw material costs.