Copper on track for first weekly dip since June on US tariff doubts

LONDON: Copper prices were headed for their first weekly drop since June, even as they steadied on Friday following a steep fall in the previous session after Reuters reported that the White House had not made a decision on imposing tariffs on the metal.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was flat at USD14,238 a metric ton as of 1600 GMT. It sank 3.6percent on Thursday after hitting a record high of USD14,875 and is on course to finish the week down 1.2percent, which would end its 10-week winning streak. “The market has been caught long,” Alastair Munro, senior base metals strategist at Marex, said over email.

“Copper stocks remain tight geographically and moving significant amounts of money should take some time,” he said. “So we see the potential for further tightness in the months ahead but in the here and now it’s all about risk management.”

Sucden Financial said heavy volumes on Thursday’s decline showed “meaningful risk reduction,” but concurred that underlying fundamental tightness should limit any sell-off.

Available LME copper stocks were steady at 117,600 tons, but in top metals consumer China, Shanghai Futures Exchange inventories fell for another week, plunging 13percent to 54,780 tons, their lowest since January 2024. Stocks on the US COMEX exchange continued to creep up despite a drop in the US copper premium.

The three-month LME copper spread flipped into contango on Thursday, a market structure where future prices are higher than those for prompt delivery, pointing to easing concerns over near-term availability. The cash contract was last trading at a USD4.50-a-ton discount to the three-month forward.

The rest of the LME complex was in the red as rising borrowing costs and inflationary fears roiled markets. Aluminium fell 1.1percent to USD3,257.50 a ton, zinc slipped 0.5percent to USD3,874.50 and lead also lost 0.5percent to USD1,891.50.

Nickel shed 1.2percent to USD16,465, touching a two-month low, while tin fell 2percent to USD53,255, hitting its weakest since July 28.