LONDON: Copper prices rose to their highest in a month on Wednesday, and other industrial metals also climbed after top consumer China announced measures to shore up its property sector.
Further price support came from signs of tight supply, with stocks of most metals in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses falling and contracts for quickly deliverable material trading at a premium.
Benchmark copper on the LME was up 0.9% at $9,797 a tonne at 1711 GMT after touching its highest since Oct. 26 at $9,880.
The metal is up by about 25% this year after gaining 26% in 2020, though it has lost momentum in recent months as economic growth slowed.
China’s support measures are helping, but not enough to rekindle copper’s rally, said independent analyst Robin Bhar.
“I don’t see anything at the moment to take us out of the $9,000-$10,000 range,” he said. “We tested the downside and buyers are there, but there’s stiff resistance at higher levels.”
THANKSGIVING: Low trading volumes are expected heading into the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
CHINA: Regulators in China have told some banks to issue more loans to property companies, sources said. Officials this week said they would increase funding support for business to support the slowing economy.
YUAN/DOLLAR: China’s yuan has remained firm against the dollar even as the greenback has risen to its strongest against a basket of major currencies since July 2020, making dollar-priced metals more expensive for non-U.S. buyers.
COAL: Chinese coking coal futures surged more than 13%.
TIN: Indonesia could stop tin exports in 2024 as part of efforts to attract investment into the resource processing industry, President Joko Widodo said.
LME tin was up 2.9% at $40,010 a tonne having touched a record high of $40,300.
NICKEL: LME nickel was up 2.3% at $20,810 a tonne, climbing towards last month’s seven-year high of $21,425.
On-warrant inventories in LME-registered warehouses have fallen to 65,922 tonnes, down from more than 200,000 tonnes in April, with one entity holding more than half the warrants, LME data shows.
OTHER METALS: Aluminium was up 1.1% at $2,697 a tonne, zinc rose 0.3% to $3,312 and lead added 0.5% to $2,264.
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