BEIJING: London copper prices rose slightly on Friday, extending gains made on signals that the U.S. Federal Reserve is ready to cut interest rates as early as next month, while nickel eased from a three-week high.
Copper was on course for a 2.7% gain this week, in what would be its best week since the week ended March 29, buoyed by the impending restart of trade talks between the United States and top metals consumer China.
"Copper has also found support from strike action at the Chuquicamata copper mine in Chile," ANZ wrote in a note.
A weaker U.S. dollar, which makes dollar-denominated metals cheaper for holders of other currencies, also boosted sentiment, it added.
Unions at Chuquicamata have called on members to reject a sweetened contract offer from Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, amid a nearly week-long strike that has halved output from the mine.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 0.5%, crossing the $6,000 a tonne mark, and was up 0.1% at $5,978 as of 0526 GMT. The red metal had hit a near one-month high of $6,027 in London on Thursday. The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.1% to 46,900 yuan ($6,835.74) a tonne by the end of the morning.
* ZAMBIA: Vedanta Resources said it would take urgent steps to protect its Zambian copper assets and pursue international arbitration if necessary after a Lusaka court on Thursday rejected its request to be included in liquidation proceedings.
* LYNAS: Australia's Lynas Corp on Friday said it was stockpiling production of a major rare earth element as prices have jumped in recent weeks on rising supply concerns amid trade tensions between China and the United States.
* OTHER METALS: London aluminium and lead eked out 0.1% and 0.2% gains, respectively. Nickel was the laggard, falling 1.1% to $12,170 a tonne after hitting a three-week top on Thursday.
* NICKEL: The global nickel market deficit narrowed to 9,400 tonnes in April from a revised shortfall of 14,200 tonnes in the previous month, the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) said on Thursday.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian stocks struggled on Friday to follow Wall Street's euphoria about a possible U.S. rate cut next month as anxiety over Sino-U.S. trade negotiations clouded investor sentiment in the region.
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