Copper prices edged down in range-bound Asian trading on Thursday as 2021 draws to a close, but persisting concerns over supply propelled Shanghai aluminium to a two-month high.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.1% at $9,667 a tonne by 0333 GMT, after touching a one-month high in the previous session.

The most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended morning trade 0.4% lower at 69,970 yuan ($10,987.75) a tonne.

Shanghai aluminium rose as much as 3.6% to 20,585 yuan a tonne, its highest since Oct. 27, while LME aluminium advanced 0.6% to $2,828.50 a tonne, after a two-day decline.

Fundamentals

• China aims to cut energy consumption of steel by 2%, and to lower carbon emissions in the aluminium sector by 5% by 2025, the country's industry ministry said in a raw materials development plan on Wednesday.

• Alcoa Corp reached a deal with workers to end primary aluminium production at its San Ciprian facility in Spain for two years, the Industry Ministry said on Wednesday, as soaring European energy prices pressure heavy electricity users.

• Chilean miner Antofagasta PLC has agreed to supply copper concentrate to some Chinese smelters at treatment and refining charges of $65 a tonne and 6.5 cents per lb next year, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

• Peru's government is still far from reaching a deal that would ensure the restart of MMG Ltd's huge Las Bambas copper mine, a community advisor and a government source said on Wednesday, a day before a crucial meeting with local communities whose road blockade derailed the mining company's operations.