Copper prices hit their highest in three weeks on Thursday as a sliding dollar made greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.

The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.1% at 0146 GMT to 68,480 yuan ($9,558.51) per metric ton, having hit its highest since June 21 earlier in the session at 68,710 yuan.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was almost unchanged at $8,503 per metric ton. The contract climbed to its highest since June 23 at $8,531.50 earlier in the session.

The dollar eased on Thursday, having posted its worst fall in five months in the previous session, as traders took surprisingly slow US inflation as a signal that US interest rate rises could potentially finish by the end of the month.

Copper inventories in LME warehouses continued to slide, lending the metal’s price some support.

Stocks were last at 54,450 metric tons, the lowest since April 21.

In Chinese warehouses tracked by Shanghai Futures Exchange, copper inventories have started to rise, but only modestly and stocks - at 74,638 metric tons - are still 70% down from early March.

Sliding dollar propels copper to 2-1/2-week high

LME aluminium eased 0.3% to $2,229 per metric ton, nickel dropped 1.1% to $21,450, zinc edged down 0.3% at $2,419, tin shed 1.9% to $28,505, while lead rose 0.3% to $2,092.

SHFE aluminium advanced 1.1% to 18,270 yuan per metric ton, nickel leaped 2.5% to 167,650 yuan, zinc increased 1.6% to 20,320 yuan, lead was up 0.9% at 15,645 yuan and tin rose 1.1% to 233,910 yuan.