Copper eases as dollar firms on US inflation jitters

Copper prices were subdued on Wednesday, as a firmer dollar made greenback-priced metals less appealing to holders of other currencies, while inflationary pressures in the United States sparked worries of a sooner-than-expected monetary policy.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange eased 0.1% to $9,408 a tonne by 0740 GMT, while the most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 0.4% to 68,870 yuan ($10,637.28) a tonne.

The US dollar touched a three-month high versus the euro and a one-week high versus the yen, after US consumer prices last month increased by the most in 13 years, spurring bets of faster monetary policy tightening than the Federal Reserve officials have so far signalled.

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Markets will pay attention to any information indicating the Fed's liquidity tapering, said Huatai Futures in a report.

"But copper price reaction (to the inflation data) was relatively 'calm' with a slight fall only, suggesting that the current macro impact on the copper prices might be gradually weakening," the company said, adding that fundamentals of the metal remained relatively unchanged.

FUNDAMENTALS

• China, the world's biggest metals consumer, will take "comprehensive measures" to ease rising commodity prices, Premier Li Keqiang said.

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• LME tin decreased 0.1% to $32,360 a tonne, nickel dropped 0.4% to $18,705 a tonne, and zinc was up 0.3% at $2,943 a tonne.

• ShFE aluminium 1.7% to 19,510 yuan a tonne on fears of output cut amid energy curb, traders said, zinc shed 0.5% to 21,980 yuan a tonne, and lead was down 0.5% to 15,650 yuan a tonne.