Copper climbs on dip-buying, softer dollar

Copper rose on Monday, as investors bought the dip after a volatile week, and the dollar turned softer.

The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.78% to 101,780 yuan ($14,679.24) a metric ton as of 0308 GMT.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange added 0.40% to $13,046.50 a ton, sustaining above the $13,000 mark.

Last week, SHFE copper lost 7.70%, the steepest weekly fall since July 2022, and the LME copper declined 1.24%.

The US dollar also turned softer, providing some support for the greenback-denominated commodities by making them more affordable for investors using other currencies.

Copper’s gains on Monday also came as a part of a broader recovery in metals complex led by gold and silver.

Analysts saw the supply-demand fundamentals for copper as unchanged.

Unexpected mine outages and unevenly distributed refined copper stocks among regions due to the US tariff threat continue to underpin supply worries, while the metal remains central to electrification and the expansion of AI data centres.

“The (copper) market is set to remain undersupplied by 4–5%, keeping prices supported despite the risk of a short-term pullback as inventories rise but remain unevenly distributed,” analysts at ANZ Research said in a note.

Rising inventories, however, remained a focus for the market, while near-term demand was also in question as a nine-day Lunar New Year break in the biggest consumer market, China, is set to begin on February 15.

Copper stocks in SHFE-sheds climbed to 248,911 tons on Friday, the highest since March 2025, while stock levels in LME and Comex continued to rise.

Among other SHFE base metals, tin led gains, up 3.72%.

Aluminium rose 1.11%, zinc climbed 0.67%, lead nudged 0.21% higher and nickel gained 1.46%.

Elsewhere on the LME, tin was also leading the gains, rising 1.99%, aluminium ticked 0.15% higher, zinc added 0.60%, and nickel climbed 1.08%.

Lead was the only metal to post a loss, down 0.10%.