London copper prices edged higher on Wednesday after an accident at the top producer Codelco’s Chilean mine raised concerns over supply, though rising inventories on the London Metal Exchange capped gains.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.1% at $9,650.50 per metric ton, as of 0348 GMT.
However, the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange eased 0.3% to 78,240 yuan ($10,884.51) a ton.
Chilean state-run miner Codelco must produce four reports on the collapse at its El Teniente copper mine that killed six people after an earthquake last week, according to a government document seen by Reuters on Monday, before it can restart its underground operations there.
The El Teniente mine produced 356,000 tons of copper last year.
“Traders are now starting to re-export some of the record shipments they brought into the U.S. in a bid to gain from the higher prices. These disruptions to trade flows are overshadowing supply concerns in Chile,” ANZ analysts said in a note on Wednesday.
Copper stored in LME-registered warehouses rose by 14,275 tons to a total of 153,850 tons, marking a gain of 70% since late June.
Last week, surprisingly weak U.S. jobs data triggered bets on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts from September that caused the dollar to weaken and made greenback-priced metals, such as copper, cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Among other metals in London, aluminium edged 0.3% higher to $2,571 a ton, nickel rose 0.3% to $15,060, lead gained 0.5% to $1,983, tin rose 0.3% to $33,310, and zinc climbed 0.2% to $2,760.
SHFE aluminium was up 0.7% at 20,640 yuan, nickel was steady at 120,870 yuan, lead gained 0.9% to 16,860 yuan, tin climbed 0.5% to267,450 yuan, and zinc was up 0.2% at 22,365 yuan.
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