LONDON: Copper prices extended gains for a sixth session on Thursday as technical factors provided momentum and outweighed concern over US President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff plans for top metals consumer China.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose 0.4% to $9,067 a metric ton in official open-outcry trading after hitting its highest since Dec. 16 at $9,099.
The metal used in power and construction continues to recover from a five-month low of $8,757 touched on Dec. 31. This week brought support on the technical front as it broke above resistance from the 21-day moving average, which now supports at a major psychological level around $9,000.
The Chinese yuan, meanwhile, has been hovering around a 16-month low, prompting some Chinese traders to buy copper to try to shield themselves from this weakness and uncertainty about the future, said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. The Yangshan copper premium, which reflects demand for copper imported into China, reached its highest in more than a year at $73 a ton, against $43 two months ago.
In other metals, LME aluminium rose 1.3% to $2,532 a ton in official activity, zinc added 1% to $2,854, lead lost 0.2% to $1,936, tin was down 0.4% at $29,975 and nickel fell 0.3% to $15,400.
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