Copper eases on worries about rising virus cases and global growth

LONDON: Copper prices fell on Thursday along with other risky assets on worries that rising COVID-19 cases around the world will dampen global growth and metals demand.

Global stocks and oil prices also fell as governments across Europe tightened restrictions to battle accelerating virus infections.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.4pc to $6,687 a tonne by 0940 GMT, having rebounded by about 50pc since touching 45-month lows in March.

LME copper hit its highest in more than two years on Sept. 21, and prices have since hovered between $6,300 and $6,900 a tonne.

"For copper, the fundamentals have been quite resilient, primarily due to China's recovery, and supply has been a bit tighter as well," said Xiao Fu, head of commodity market strategy at Bank of China International in London.

"But there's still lots of uncertainty on the macro front, including surrounding the US election and concerns about the rest of the world's recovery."

Also pressuring markets was lack of progress on another US coronavirus relief package before the Nov. 3 election.

Also hitting metals markets was a firmer dollar, which makes commodities priced in the US currency more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Aurubis, Europe's biggest copper smelter, said it will offer unchanged 2021 copper premiums to its customers of $96 per tonne above LME prices.

Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note: "Whilst there was some consolidation in the copper price in late Q3, we view this merely as a pause in what is likely to be a significant sustained trend higher through 2021."

LME aluminium fell 0.7pc to $1,839 a tonne, zinc lost 0.1pc to $2,415, lead fell 1.4pc to $1,770, nickel added 0.3pc to $15,390 and tin edged up 0.1pc to $18,320.