LONDON: Copper prices turned negative on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump said he did not want to extend a rapidly expiring ceasefire with Iran and the United States seized an Iranian oil tanker in international waters.
The metal is considered a bellwether for economic health and there are fears the Middle East conflict will hurt growth.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.3 percent at USD13,224 per metric ton as of 1600 GMT, after trading most of the day in a tight range between USD13,200 and USD13,330.
“The lack of directional move suggests that, for now, the complex is waiting for clearer signals from macro and geopolitical developments,” brokerage Sucden Financial said in a note on industrial metals.
The dollar index nudged up 0.2 percent, making greenback-denominated metals more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Investors were also focused on Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh’s Senate hearing on Tuesday, which will test his independence from a White House that had criticised current Fed Chair Jerome Powell multiple times for failing to cut interest rates sooner.
In China, refined copper output rose to a monthly record in March, showing no cutbacks despite last year’s vow by smelters to trim output by 10 percent to counter falling processing fees.
Zinc was the sole LME metal to gain ground, rising 0.9 percent to USD3,439.50 a ton. Investors were likely hedging their short positions on zinc, used to galvanise steel, by buying futures contracts, one trader said.
Broker Marex said the overall speculative long position on zinc was the highest since the second quarter of 2024.
Elsewhere, aluminium fell0.4 percent to USD3,542, lead lost 0.6 percent to USD1,961, tin shed 1.4 percent to USD49,945 and nickel was flat at USD18,235.
Nickel contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange opened to overseas traders for the first time in Tuesday’s evening session in China.
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