Copper heads for weekly fall on rising stocks, stronger dollar

Copper is set to end a volatile week lower on Friday, as rising inventories and a stronger US dollar pressured the market.

The most-traded copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 2.07% to 100,380 yuan ($14,463.98) a metric ton by 0310 GMT, and was set to end the week 7.34% lower.

It slipped as much as 4.47% to 97,920 yuan earlier in the session.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dropped 0.59% to $12,827.50 a ton, poised for a 2.52% weekly drop.

It previously tumbled as much as 2.91%.

Copper joined gold and silver in a broader correction, as investors unwound long positions after copper hit a record on January 29.

A brief rebound on Tuesday gave way to a cross-asset rout led by tech equities and precious metals.

Copper’s weakness was also due to rising stocks across warehouses registered with major exchanges, as traders and analysts raised questions about demand in a high-price environment.

LME copper stocks have been on a uptrend since mid-January, and stood at 180,575 tons as of Wednesday.

Comex copper totalled a record 586,429 short tons (531999.44 tons).

SHFE copper inventories have climbed to their highest since April at 133,004 tons.

Meanwhile, the US dollar hovered near a two-week high, making greenback-denominated commodities less affordable for investors using other currencies.

“An unwind of extended longs is likely to keep price action choppy, particularly as liquidity thins into the Lunar New Year,” analysts at Sucden Financial, including Daria Efanova and Viktoria Kuszak, said in their quarterly Metals Report.

The pullback in metals, however, have “unwound earlier excesses and pulled prices closer to fair value”, Sucden analysts said, adding the reset “has reduced downside risks and leaves scope for sentiment to stabilise once momentum improves”.

Elsewhere on SHFE, aluminium dropped 0.97%, zinc shed 0.65%, lead dipped 0.15%, nickel lost 2.35% and tin slumped 5.60%.

On LME, aluminium and zinc ticked 0.05% and 0.08% lower, respectively, lead dipped 0.20%, nickel lost 1.15% and tin lost 2.01%.