London copper prices fell on Tuesday, on a small uptick in readily available exchange inventories and as a firm dollar made greenback-priced metals pricier to holders of other currencies.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange eased 0.1% to $9,863 a tonne by 0324 GMT, while the most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.6% to 72,160 yuan a tonne.
The dollar has bounced off recent lows and was firm in choppy trade ahead of a handful of data releases and central bank meetings which investors expect to guide the rates outlook.
On-warrant copper stockpiles in LME warehouses rose for the fourth straight session to 23,300 tonnes, rebounding slightly from a 1998-low hit on Oct. 14 of 14,150 tonnes that sparked supply concerns and pushed premium of cash LME to a record high over the three-month contract.
Fundamentals
LME aluminium fell 0.5% to $2,860.50 a tonne, zinc declined 0.8% to $3,432 a tonne, and nickel decreased 0.1% to $20,295 a tonne.
ShFE aluminium dropped 2.9% to 20,870 yuan a tonne, nickel rose 1.8% to 152,110 yuan a tonne, zinc fell 0.7% to 24,395 yuan a tonne, lead rose 0.5% to 16,055 yuan a tonne and tin shed 0.6% to 281,570 yuan a tonne.
The premium of LME cash nickel over the three-month contract shot up to $189 a tonne, a level unseen since October 2019, indicating tightness of nearby supplies, following Eramet's report of a drop in ferronickel output in New Caledonia due to a wave of COVID-19 infections there.
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