London copper prices fell on Wednesday as trade tensions between the United States and China rose, which overshadowed upbeat data from the world’s top metals consumer.
The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.7% to $9,102.5 a metric ton as of 0359 GMT.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) fell 0.6% to 75,550 yuan($10,311.74)per ton.
China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing jets in response to the U.S. imposing 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Nvidia on Tuesday said it would take $5.5 billion in charges after the U.S. government limited exports of its H20 artificial intelligence chip to China, a key market for one of its most popular chips.
China’s first-quarter economic growth beat expectations, underpinned by solid consumption and industrial output even as policymakers brace for the impact of U.S. tariffs that analysts say pose the biggest risk to the Asian powerhouse in decades.
“There’s ongoing fears about how tariffs will impact China’s economy going forward. All else equal, we should see weaker growth without some very muscular support from authorities,” said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.
Copper gains as tariff exemptions and China stimulus hopes provide support
“The bigger news is the halt on Boeing orders and, even greater than that, the ban of Nvidia’s H20 chip going into China. It shows an even further deterioration in U.S.-China trade relations and with it greater downside risks to future economic activity and therefore copper demand,” Rodda added.
LME aluminium lost 0.4% to $2,366.5 a ton, lead fell 0.6% at $1,903, nickel eased 0.8% to $15,435 a ton, zinc was down 0.8% at $2,595, while tin rose 0.5% at $31,205.
SHFE aluminium lost 0.6% to 19,510 yuan a ton, zinc fell 1.8% to 21,945 yuan, lead retreated 0.6% to 16,705 yuan, tin fell 1.2% to 256,340 yuan and nickel gained 0.6% to 124,380 yuan.
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