Copper gains on Mideast de-escalation, oil price drop

SINGAPORE: Copper prices firmed up on Monday, buoyed by a nascent halt in fighting between the US and Iran and oil market relief. Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained 0.26% at $13,681 a metric ton by 0300 GMT.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.27% at 105,010 yuan ($15,515.43) a ton. The US said it was pausing its airstrikes on Iran after 13 consecutive nights of attacks and Tehran said it would halt its retaliatory attacks.

The tentative truce gave some relief to oil prices. Brent crude fell more than 4% on Monday.

It had topped $100 a barrel for the first time since May last week.

Expensive energy raises fears of inflation and tends togenerate bets on higher interest rates, which could weigh on growth-dependent commodities like copper by dampening economic activity.

The market will be closely watching Wednesday’s US Federal Reserve meeting for its interest rate decision.

Rates are expected to remain flat, with interest-rate traders pricing in a 63.7% chance there will be no rate change at this meeting, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.

Non-yielding gold gained, and the dollar index edged lower.

A cheaper dollar makes commodities like copper, traded in the greenback, more affordable for buyers using other currencies.

Copper has been supported by waning stocks outside the US The metal has been shipped into the countryat scale ahead of potential tariffs on refined copper.

In top consumer China, copper in SHFE-monitored warehouses fell 12.9% last week, to their lowest level since February 2024, at 69,610 tons. Overall LME copper stocks are at their lowest since March.

Among other LME metals, aluminium dipped 0.11%, zinc added 0.31%, lead dipped 0.16%, nickel lost 0.63% and tin gained 0.78%.

Elsewhere on SHFE, aluminium dipped 0.15%, zinc added 0.32%, lead lost 1.17%, nickel lost 0.39% and tin rose 1.76%.