Copper soars to loftiest since 2011 on tight supply and weak dollar

LONDON: Copper jumped to its highest in more than nine years on Friday and towards a third straight weekly gain as tight supplies and bullish sentiment towards base metals continued after the Chinese New Year.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) added 4.1% to $8,901 a tonne by 1612 GMT. The metal used in power and construction touched a peak of $8,995, its highest since September 2011.

“The return of the Chinese market post the Lunar New Year has seen some renewed interest in base metals,” said Gianclaudio Torlizzi, a partner at consultancy T-Commodity in Milan.

“The very short term for copper is bullish, but we are in the latest phase of a rally and we would look to short the area closer to $9,000.”

Inventories of copper in warehouse registered with the LME are near 2005 lows at 75,700 tonnes, keeping the premium for cash copper over the three-month contract elevated at about $20 a tonne.

Cancelled warrants - metal earmarked for delivery - account for about 39% and further fuelled concerns about tight supply on the LME market.

Speculative interest in copper was elevated, adding to interest in the metal.

The net speculative long on LME copper is seen at 45% of open interest at Wednesday’s close, near the year-to-date peak of 46% last month, brokerage Marex Spectron said. Stocks of copper, zinc and aluminium jumped in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange after the Chinese New Year.

The Yangshan copper premium, paid on top of LME prices for physical delivery, has climbed to $72 a tonne, indicating higher Chinese demand for metal imports.

A weaker dollar also helped to boost the appeal of metals priced in the currency.

US tariffs imposed on Chinese goods by the former Trump administration will be kept in place for now but will be evaluated after a thorough review, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNBC.

LME aluminium gained 0.3% to $2,145 a tonne, zinc advanced 0.7% to $2,875, lead gained 2.1% to $2,160.50 and tin climbed 5.1% to $26,215 after touching its highest since August 2011 while nickel was up 2.5% at $19,630.