Copper drifts lower as Iran-US standoff continues
- Benchmark three-month copper on the LME slipped 0.5% to $13,290 a metric ton
LONDON: Copper prices edged down on Friday on worries about the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the lack of progress in peace talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange slipped 0.5% to $13,290 a metric ton in official open-outcry trading.
Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire for three weeks, but President Donald Trump said he was in no rush to reach a peace agreement with Iran.
“While the risk of escalation through military conflict is reduced for now, the severity of the disruption continues to grow every day,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.
LME copper, which hit a record high of $14,527.50 a ton on January 29, is caught between competing drivers: the threat of weaker economic activity pressuring demand against the threat of disruptions from shortages of sulphuric acid.
Key resistance on the upside is at $13,525 a ton, which has seen repeated challenges turned back since early February, Hansen added.
“With all these unknowns right now, that’s probably why we’ve been more or less trading sideways for the last two weeks,” he said.
Also pressuring copper was news that the International Copper Study Group said on Thursday the global refined copper market is expected to flip into surplus in 2026.
The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange sank 0.7% to 102,460 yuan ($14,988.52) a ton, ending the week down 0.31%.
Helping support the metal was a continued decline in SHFE inventories, which fell 16.3% over the past week and have more than halved since early March.
LME nickel rose 0.1% in official activity to $18,750, having earlier hit its highest since January 29 at $18,850 on worries about supply.
The International Nickel Study Group this week said the market was expected to swing to its first annual deficit since 2021.
Elsewhere on the LME, aluminium dropped 0.6% to $3,598 a ton,zinc rose 0.6% to $3,473.50,lead added 0.3% to $1,961and tin gained 0.4% to $50,400.
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