BEIJING: London copper prices rose for a sixth consecutive session on Wednesday, striking a fresh two-month high on hopes of a trade deal between China and the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday talks with China, currently taking place in Washington, were going well and suggested he was open to pushing off the deadline to complete negotiations, saying March 1 was not a "magical" date.
Tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent by March 1 if there is no deal, which analysts expect would weigh on copper demand and prices.
"Optimism around the trade deal has been a key reason behind the price recovery, so any trade talks could again spook negative sentiment across the metals," ANZ said in a note.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed as much as 0.5 percent to $6,350.50 a tonne, the highest since Dec. 3, and stood at $6,346 a tonne, as of 0705 GMT.
* SHFE COPPER: The most-traded April copper contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange gained as much as 0.9 percent to 49,790 yuan ($7,404.16) a tonne, the highest since Dec. 5, before closing at 49,719 yuan.
* COPPER SPREADS: The premium of cash copper over the three-month LME contract <CMCU0-3> was at $25 a tonne on Tuesday, versus a discount of $14.25 a week earlier.
"The nearby squeeze on the copper spread is not a reflection of physical demand, but of shorts being trapped and trying to roll positions forwards," Malcolm Freeman, director of Kingdom Futures, said in a note.
* OTHER METALS: The entire LME complex was higher, with aluminium and nickel both adding 0.8 percent. Shanghai lead was the sole laggard, closing down 0.3 percent.
* LEAD: The global lead market narrowed its annual deficit to 98,000 tonnes in 2018 compared to a shortfall of 148,000 in the previous year, data from the International Lead and Zinc Study Group showed.
* ALUMINIUM: South32 could cut about 500 jobs at its Hillside aluminium smelter in South Africa, a trade union said.
* COLUMN: The United States' aluminium tariff wall is crumbling: Andy Home.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian stocks advanced to 4-1/2-month highs as investors bet that Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators would be able to de-escalate their tariff war.
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