Copper climbs amid weak dollar

LONDON: Copper prices rose on Friday, getting support from a weaker dollar, growth in other metals and setting aside for now signs of rising stock availability for nearby supply.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained 1.2% to $12,901.50 a metric ton by 1043 GMT after finding support at its 21-day moving average at the market close on Thursday. The metal hit a record high of $13,407 on January 14.

The U.S. dollar headed for its steepest weekly drop since June as geopolitical tensions and abrupt policy shifts around Greenland unsettled investors. A weaker dollar makes the dollar-priced metals more attractive for buyers using other currencies.

Providing some support from the supply side, Capstone Copper said that a workers’ strike had forced a production halt at its Mantoverde mine in Chile.

Copper miner Freeport-McMoRan said that it expected about 85% of production at its giant Grasberg mine to be back online by the second half of this year.

On the demand side, record December copper production in top metals consumer China and high prices saw the Yangshan copper premium, a gauge of Chinese appetite for copper imports, stabilising at $22 a ton, its lowest since mid-2024.

The premium of the Comex copper contracts against the LME ones has narrowed down sharply this week, prompting deliveries to the LME-registered warehouses in the U.S., while copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 6%.

Indicating rising availability of the metal for nearby supply, the spread between the LME cash copper contract and the benchmark swung to a discount of $83 a ton, its widest since September, from a premium of $102 on Tuesday.

In other LME metals, aluminium rose 0.1% to $3,135.50, zinc climbed 0.3% to $3,221, lead gained 0.2% to $2,023.50, tin jumped 3.3% to $53,400,

while nickel was up 3.1% at $18,545.