London copper prices inched lower on Monday in holiday-thinned trading, while market participants awaited economic data from the world’s biggest commodity consumer China.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.3% to $8,959 per metric ton as of 1020 GMT.
The U.S. dollar stayed firm, making metals prices in it more expensive for other holders of other currency.
Trading volumes were low due to the upcoming New Year holiday, and as the market awaited China’s release of PMI factory surveys on Tuesday.
“The trend for copper ultimately is a derivative of China’s recovery, or lack thereof. I see some meaningful headwinds to the copper market because nothing really seems to be re-igniting China’s economy,” said Kyle Rodda, senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.
Chinese policymakers hope policy support measures introduced late this year will bolster the property market, which is the biggest consumer of base metals. Beijing is also seeking to lessen the impact of an expected increase in U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports when Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.
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“The other element that offers downside risks (to copper) is the change of government in the U.S. and the potential for a slower or even unwound green transition,” Rodda added.
On a week-on-week basis, copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 4.7% on Dec. 27.
LME aluminium slipped 0.3% to $2,549 a ton, nickel edged up 2.1% to $15,630, zinc gained 0.7% to $3,053.50, tin rose 1% at $29,120, while lead was 0.8% lower at $1,953.50.
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