Copper near eight-month high on deferred US tariff hikes

LONDON: Copper prices jumped to their highest in nearly eight months on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods and as inventories of the metal slid.

Trump on Sunday said that talks to end the months-long U.S.-China trade dispute had been productive and that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would meet to seal a deal if progress continued.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) touched its highest since July 4 at $6,540 a tonne and was bid 0.3 percent higher at $6,495 after failing to trade in official rings.

"For copper, it's the hopes about easing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, and we saw further evidence over the weekend that this is happening," said Julius Baer commodities research analyst Carsten Menke.

He added that sentiment was also boosted by positive credit data, even though it would not directly affect copper demand.

STOCKS: On-warrant LME copper inventories available to the market fell by 6,350 tonnes to 33,450 tonnes, the lowest level since August 2005.

COPPER BALANCE: The global refined copper market showed a 52,000 tonne deficit in November, compared with a 1,000 tonne surplus in October, the International Copper Study Group said.

Supply shortage concerns, a stronger Chinese currency and looser credit conditions have boosted sentiment in copper, said Saxo Bank's head of commodity strategy, Ole Hansen.

CHINA IMPORTS: China imports of copper scrap fell 11.5 percent year on year to 180,000 tonnes in January.

It was the first month that imports of 32 extra types of solid waste, including lower-grade scrap copper, were banned as part of China's crackdown on foreign garbage.

CHINA PREMIUMS: Import premiums for physical copper in China slipped to as low as $52 a tonne, the lowest since May 2017.

COPPER LONGS: Speculative positioning in copper moved from a marginal net short to a net long of 4.7 percent, or 7,900 lots, broker Marex Spectron said in a note, adding that this was a level not seen since June 2018.

PERU: Chinese miner MMG said it will have to delay some shipments of copper concentrate from Peru's Matarani Port because of a blockade by an indigenous community of a road used to transport copper from the Las Bambas mine.

TIN: A unit of Inner Mongolia Xingye Mining halted production after an accident that killed 21 people at a mine on Saturday.

Tin was bid 0.8 percent higher at $21,675 a tonne after touching a peak of $21,795, its highest in more than a year.

OTHER METALS: Aluminium was bid down 0.1 percent at $1,911 a tonne, zinc added 0.1 percent to $2,728, lead  was bid up 0.3 percent to $2,082 and nickel rose 0.4 percent to $13,045.