LONDON: Copper prices rose in London on Wednesday with more upbeat demand prospects from top metals consumer China, ignoring pressure from rising inventories and caution ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate decision later in the day.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.4% to $8,323 per metric ton by 1101 GMT.

The metal, used in power and construction, is rising for the first time in four sessions as concerns about consumption from China, the world’s second-largest economy, in general and its crisis-hit property sector in particular begin to ease.

“People are turning a bit more optimistic on China with evidence that things start to bottom out there,” said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.

Copper heads lower ahead of Fed meeting, as inventories build

“There is still a lot of evidence that the Chinese housing sector is in poor state, but the demand for base metals as a whole is doing quite well there and the sharp fall for housing prices in the country’s main cities is starting to ease.”

The U.S. currency index, which touched a six-month high last week, was down, making dollar-priced metals more attractive for buyers holding other currencies.

Confident the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged, investors are more focused on the release of new economic forecasts on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, copper inventories in LME-registered warehouses, which have been rising since mid-July, are at the highest since May 2022 at 155,700 tons after deliveries of 6,100 tons, mainly to New Orleans, LME daily data showed.

LME aluminium added 1.3% to $2,244 a ton. Global primary aluminium output rose 1.6% year on year to 6.0 million tons in August, data from the International Aluminium Institute showed.

Zinc rose 1.6% to $2,537, lead was up 0.4% at $2,229, tin added 0.4% to $26,200 and nickel fell 0.3% to $19,860.