Copper retreats as demand worries persist, market weighs US stimulus

• The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) closed down 0.1pc at 38,870 yuan ($5,484.15) a tonne.
• The stimulus bill was passed by the US Senate on Thursday morning in Asian hours but it failed to lift copper prices.

SINGAPORE: Copper prices fell on Thursday as worldwide lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus fed demand concerns and as investors weighed the impact of a massive US stimulus package.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 1.3pc to $4,791 a tonne by 0708 GMT, after climbing 4.9pc over the past two sessions on hopes for a historic $2 trillion US stimulus package to tackle the economic fallout of the pandemic.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) closed down 0.1pc at 38,870 yuan ($5,484.15) a tonne.

The stimulus bill was passed by the US Senate on Thursday morning in Asian hours but it failed to lift copper prices.

"Investors are taking a breather here to digest all the stimulus packages that have been announced everywhere. They might need to reassess where we are heading next," said Anna Stablum, a commodity broker at Marex Spectron.

"We're still in lockdown in parts of Asia, Europe and the United States. People living there are the end-users of Chinese goods, so even if China is starting to produce again, it might just lead to inventory building as no one is there to go shopping."

China consumes half of the world's refined copper, but much of the red metal is used to make goods for export.

LME nickel fell 1.1pc to $11,160 a tonne, zinc dipped 0.5pc to $1,827.50 a tonne, tin dropped 3.1pc to $13,855 a tonne, while ShFE nickel declined 0.4pc to 91,280 yuan a tonne.