SHANGHAI: Shanghai copper hit a record high on Thursday, boosted by a spike in cancellation of the metal in warehouses registered with the London Metal Exchange, along with increasing bets of a Federal Reserve rate cut this month.
The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed daytime trading surging 2.26% to 90,980 yuan ($12,873.01) per metric ton, after hitting an all-time high of 91,450 yuan earlier in the day.
The rally came after the benchmark three-month LME copper notched a record high of $11,540 a ton on Wednesday. London copper nudged 0.10% lower at $11,476 a ton as of 0700 GMT.
Copper found support after LME data on Wednesday showed fresh net cancellations of 50,725 tons in warehouses in South Korea and Taiwan, bringing the on-warrant copper in LME sheds to the lowest level since July at 105,275 tons.
The sharp rise in cancelled LME warrants suggested that expectations of tightening supply in markets outside the United States are starting to materialise, analysts at Chinese broker Jinrui said in a note.
Glencore cut its 2026 copper production forecast on Wednesday, but said it still expected a rise in output by 2035.
Copper hits record high on supply concerns and weaker dollar
Goldman Sachs raised its average LME copper price forecast for the first half of 2026 to $10,710 from $10,415 previously.
The dollar was soft on Thursday after lacklustre economic data cemented the case for a Fed rate cut next week.
Elsewhere in the metals market, tin climbed to its highest level in more than three-and-a-half years.
Shanghai tin closed 2.23% higher at 316,230 yuan a ton, after hitting the highest since late April 2022 at 323,700 yuan earlier in the day.
London tin was down 1.40% to $40,210 a ton, after hitting $41,010 a ton earlier, also the highest since April 2022.
Among other SHFE base metals, aluminium rose 0.75%, zinc gained 0.55%, lead was up 0.35% and nickel nudged 0.13% higher.
In London, lead added 0.30%, nickel edged 0.11% higher, zinc dipped 0.15%, tin declined 1.40% and aluminium was little changed.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.