LONDON: Copper prices rose on Monday as a liquidity injection by China’s central bank demonstrated support for the Chinese economy and helped the metal recover from a five-month low hit last week.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.3% at $8,279 a tonne by 1615 GMT. The metal had touched $8,136.50 on Friday for its lowest since Nov. 30, pressured by concerns over demand from top consumer China and selling by momentum-based funds.
“We are seeing a marginal rebound in base metal sentiment following last week’s sustained weakness,” said Arthur Parish, metals associate at SP Angel.
China is due to report monthly industrial production and retail sales on Tuesday, providing evidence of whether demand is finally picking up after the lifting of COVID-19 curbs early this year.
On the supply side, a copper mine in Tibet stopped production after an accident, adding further support for the market.
LME aluminium was up 1.4% at $2,263.5 a tonne after on-warrant stocks in the LME-registered warehouses declined to a three-month low of 373,025 tonnes.
Lead was up 0.1% at $2,078 and tin gained 0.7% to $25,000 while zinc was down 0.5% at $2,537.5 and nickel fell 2.6% to $21,635 after touching $21,565 for its lowest since Oct. 21.
Citi cut its forecast for nickel and zinc last week, saying that nickel was “looking vulnerable” fundamentally.
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