Copper rallied toward $11,000 per metric ton on Friday before losing steam but was still on course for a weekly rise amid renewed optimism over trade talks between the United States and China, as well as ongoing concerns over a shortage of supply.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.1% at $10,841 in official open outcry trading. It had earlier climbed as much as 1.1% to $10,969, the highest since October 9, when it struck a 16-month peak of $11,000.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed U.S. President Donald Trump will meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next Thursday in South Korea.
“Market sentiment remains generally positive, but participants are showing caution ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, which could add fresh direction to metals and currency markets,” Neil Welsh, head of metals at Britannia Global Markets, said in a note.
Copper’s momentum was curtailed by a slightly stronger dollar which makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies. Still, the metal used in power and construction was on course to record a 2.2% gain this week as fears over tight supply persist.
Chilean miner Antofagasta on Thursday said it expects its 2025 copper output to come in at the lower end of its 660,000-700,000 tons forecast.
LME copper stocks of 136,350 tons were at their lowest since late July, while copper inventories in Shanghai Futures Exchange wareheouses fell by 4.9% from last week to 104,792 tons.
SP Angel analyst John Meyer said there was potential for a squeeze in copper like the one seen in zinc this week, where Chinese smelters playing the London-Shanghai arbitrage risk getting caught out because of a lack of physical metal.
Aluminium dipped 0.4% to $2,851 a ton, after touching $2,883.50, its highest since May 2022 on supply fears. Zinc edged up 0.1% to $3,019, lead gained 0.3% to $2,016 and tin climbed 0.1% to $35,815, while nickel fell 0.5% to $15,280.
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