LONDON: Copper prices edged up on Friday, propped up by a weaker dollar and easing COVID-19 curbs in China, but the upcoming U.S. jobs data kept the market unsettled.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange ticked up 0.1% to $8,348 a tonne by 1030 GMT, after gaining about 5% so far this week.
The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 0.9% to 66,240 yuan ($9,415.11) a tonne.
“The weaker dollar has helped, but there are also signs that China may have to revise its zero-COVID policy and that is also good for the metals markets,” said Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree.
Top metals consumer China continued to relax COVID-19 testing requirements and quarantine rules in some Chinese cities on Friday.
China’s COVID policies, the world’s toughest, have stifled everything from domestic consumption to factory output and global supply chains.
Also supporting metals was a weaker dollar index, which was pinned near 16-week lows after slipping more than 5% last month on hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve would start to slow its pace of rate hikes from the December meeting.
A softer dollar makes metals priced in the U.S. currency cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
The market was skittish, however, ahead of U.S. non-farm payrolls data, due at 1330 GMT, which is due to provide more clues on a shift in the Fed’s rate-hike trajectory.
“A stronger payroll number is likely to cause dollar appreciation, which would be negative for metals,” Shah said.
Among other metals, aluminium dipped 0.1% to $2,482.50 and nickel lost 0.4% to $27,500, but zinc climbed 0.3% to $3,088, lead gained 0.7% to $2,188 and tin advanced 0.7% to $23,500.
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