London copper ticks up, focus on US mid-term elections

SINGAPORE: Copper edged higher on Tuesday after last session's deep fall but gains were capped as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the US mid-term elections and uncertainty over the Washington-Beijing trade deal.

Investors are generally expecting the opposition Democrats to take over the House of Representatives in Tuesday elections, while President Donald Trump's Republican Party is tipped to retain the Senate.

A political gridlock between the White House and Congress could hinder Trump's pro-business agenda and raise political instability.

"If you approach mid-term election ... you may just want to stay on the sideline. It's a wait-and-see game," said Dominic Schnider of UBS Group in Hong Kong.

COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged up 0.2 percent at $6,201 a tonne, as of 0729 GMT, and the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 0.7 percent to 49,740 yuan ($7,189.84) a tonne.

SIDEWAY: "Three-month (outlook), we have a sideway move in all of them (base metals) because there's still an overhang on trade concerns on one side, and on the other side, we do see ... in general, the inventories decline which is really favourable," Schnider said.

TRADE SOLUTION: China is ready to hold discussions and work with the United States to resolve trade disputes because the world's two largest economies stand to lose from confrontation, Vice President Wang Qishan said on Tuesday.

RALLY: After initial optimism about a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Trump had not asked for a plan. Kudlow said he was less optimistic than he was previously about reaching a deal with China.

HOPES: US President Donald Trump said on Monday China has hurt the United States economically but was ready to make a deal on trade, and that he is open to a fair agreement.