LONDON: Copper prices hovered below $10,000 a tonne on Wednesday as data showed Chinese factories were facing the fastest rises in the cost of input materials in 12 years and a Chinese government agency said it would step up monitoring of commodities markets.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up $3.50 at $9,967.50 a tonne at 1625 GMT, off a record high of $10,747.50 reached on May 10.
Prices are still up nearly 30% this year.
ING analyst Wenyu Yao said talk of the Chinese government controlling commodity price rallies could sap some speculative energy from the market, but was unlikely to meaningfully affect prices.
“The market is in consolidation mode,” she said, adding that infrastructure building in the United States and China should support demand. “The downside (for prices) is shallow this year. The upside is bigger.”
World stocks hovered near record highs and US bond yields fell as some of US President Joe Biden’s stimulus efforts appeared to be on the rocks.
US inflation figures and a European Central Bank meeting on Thursday could offer clues about when monetary policy will tighten.
Speculators are scaling back bets on higher copper prices, with their net long on the LME falling to 20% of open contracts by Monday, brokers Marex Spectron said.
Workers at BHP Group’s Spence copper mine in Chile said they would extend negotiations with the company for a few more days to try to avoid a strike.
LME aluminium was down 0.1% at $2,450 a tonne. The cash contract flipped to a $11.80 premium against three-month metal — the biggest since 2019 — from a $30 discount two weeks ago, suggesting tighter supply of quickly deliverable material.
Tin prices were up 0.1% at $31,255 after reaching a 10-year high on Tuesday. Malaysia Smelting Corporation (MSC), a producer, said it had suspended operations and declared force majeure on deliveries.
LME zinc was flat at $3,015.50 a tonne, nickel was up 1.1% at $18,130 and lead rose 0.5% to $2,194.
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