Copper softer on thin volumes with focus on higher inventories

LONDON: Copper prices softened on Monday due to a firmer dollar and as the market focused on rising inventories and weak demand prospects in holiday-thinned trading volumes.

China’s Lunar New Year holiday this week and a public holiday in the United States mean low volumes and possibly volatile moves due to settlement or rollover of maturing contracts on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday, traders said.

Benchmark copper on the LME was down 0.1% at $12,870 a metric ton at 1054 GMT. It has dropped more than 10% since hitting a record high $14,527.50 a ton two weeks ago.

“With many Asian desks sidelined, liquidity will be patchy with most participants likely to be content to wait for clearer direction from U.S. rates and a potential Chinese demand pulse in March’s post holiday trade,” Britannia Global markets said in a note.

A higher U.S. currency makes dollar-priced metals more expensive for holders of other currencies, which could potentially subdue demand and undermine prices.

Copper stocks in LME approved warehouses at 211,850 tons are up more than 50% since January 9.

Ample stocks have created a discount for the cash contract over the three-mont forward on the LME. It closed at a one-year high of $106 a ton on Friday.

In warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange, copper stocks at 272,475 tons have climbed 180% since December 19.

Elsewhere zinc prices were down 0.9% at $3,308 a ton. They have fallen 8% since hitting $3,575.50 on January 29, the highest since August 2022.

Zinc is also under pressure from higher inventories in ShFE warehouses, which at 87,025 have risen 33% since January 30.

“Ex-China market tightness that supported prices…has been resolved for now, as China turned to a net exporter of zinc in November/December, concentrate availability improved, and ex-China refined zinc production has risen,” analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note.

In other metals, aluminium was up 0.1% at $3,080, lead slipped 0.3% to $1,954, tin eased 0.7% to $46,380 and nickel rose 0.1% to $17,005 a ton.