LONDON: Copper prices edged higher on Thursday as appetite for risky assets rose after results from Nvidia reassured markets about the AI boom.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.2% at $9,778 a metric ton by 0930 GMT after slipping 0.8% in the previous session.
LME copper, which has gained 11% this year, has been trapped in a range between $9,500 and $9,900 after failing to break above the $10,000 mark in early July.
“Metals in general are in a holding pattern right now, but the main driver today is probably stronger risk appetite following the Nvidia results last night,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.
“It just highlights the importance that this whole AI craze currently has on the market and also wider investment appetite.”
European stocks and Chinese shares climbed, partly because Nvidia’s strong results quelled broader worries over cooling demand for artificial intelligence.
Weighing on the market, however, were rising inventory levels, especially on the U.S. Comex exchange, which have nearly tripled so far this year. A large amount of copper flowed to the U.S. ahead of the announcement of 50% copper tariffs last month.
“There’s a big overhang of supply sitting in the U.S., so I suppose it really depends on whether demand outside the U.S. is strong enough for that to start to shift,” Hansen said.
LME copper inventories added another 1,850 tons in data released on Thursday to a three-month high of 157,950 tons.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange eased 0.5% to 78,930 yuan ($11,034.69) a ton.
Among other metals, LME aluminium was up 0.1% at $2,606 a ton, lead added 0.2% to $1,987.50 and tin rose 0.3% to $34,660 while zinc dipped 0.1% to $2,758 and nickel was little changed at $15,135.
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