Stronger dollar weighs on copper ahead of crucial geopolitical events

LONDON: Copper prices fell on Monday due to a stronger dollar and uncertainty ahead of a crucial event for the outlook for US interest rates and a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange lost 0.3% to $9,745 a metric ton by 1621 GMT.

“The week has begun with a cautious tone for base metals as the markets await the Trump-Zelenskiy meeting as well as any interest rate signals from the Fed’s Jackson Hole meetings,” said Ewa Manthey, commodities strategist at ING.

After meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Trump will meet Zelenskiy on Monday. Trump’s team stressed on Sunday that there had to be compromises on both sides as Trump is leaning on Ukraine to accept a deal to end Europe’s deadliest war in 80 years.

The US currency strengthened, making dollar-priced metals more expensive for buyers using other currencies, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak at the Jackson Hole symposium this week.

Metals markets were also still digesting last week’s data from top consumer China, which showed that factory output growth slumped to an eight-month low in July.

“After stronger-than-expected growth in China earlier this year, demand is now slowing, as front-loading ahead of tariffs has now come to an end,” Manthey said.

In other metals, LME tin rose 0.1% to $33,645 a ton. Supporting the metal are low tin inventories in LME-registered warehouses , which are down 65% so far this year to 1,655 tons, the two-year low.

The spread between LME cash prices and the three-month tin contract swung to a premium on Friday and was last at $89 compared with a discount of $48 a week ago, signalling some tightness for nearby supply in the LME system.

LME aluminium fell 0.8% to $2,587 a ton, zinc slid 0.6% to $2,778, lead lost 0.4% to $1,973.50, while nickel was steady at $15,160.