LONDON: Copper prices rose on Tuesday for the fourth session, buoyed by firm consumption data in China, more Chinese monetary support measures and a weaker dollar.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 1.3% at $8,384.5 per metric ton at 1109 GMT.
“There is a short term uptick in the sentiment today,” said Dan Smith, head of research for Amalgamated Metal Trading.
“The latest copper consumption data in China shows that demand has surprisingly held up. Investors who were downbeat before are now reassessing the scenario.”
Chinese apparent demand of refined copper grew by around 9% in the first half of this year, even though the global market moved into surplus, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said on Monday.
Copper supported but Chinese demand concerns weigh
Apparent demand is derived from indicators from major copper sectors like cable plants, power grid and construction industries.
Metals markets were also boosted by continuing support measures by the Chinese authorities.
On Monday, China’s major state-owned banks were seen actively mopping up the offshore yuan and on Tuesday China’s yuan found respite as efforts by authorities to slow its decline gained some traction.
Copper’s correlation to the yuan has strengthened recently due to the focus of investors on China’s sluggish economic recovery.
Among other metals, lead prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) jumped to a more than 17-month high on Tuesday.
Thousands of tons of lead sold on the SHFE for delivery next month are expected to trigger a price surge as the current SHFE inventory is not enough to cover them and the physical market is tight.
Three-month LME rose 0.8% to $2,182 a ton.
A softer dollar index also made greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.
LME aluminium rose 1.3% to $2,171 a ton, despite inflows that sent LME stocks climbing to a one-month peak.
Zinc advanced 1.6% to $2,355.5, tin gained 2% to $26,210 and nickel added 1.7% to $20,460.
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