2024-02-28 07:30:10
Copper edged lower on Wednesday as concerns over demand stemming from a surge in inventories in Chinese warehouses and a stronger dollar weighed on prices.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.2% at $8,459 per metric ton by 0701 GMT, and the most traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) fell 0.1 percent to 68,760 yuan ($9,551.33) per ton.
Copper stocks in SHFE warehouses more than doubled in just over two weeks to 181,323 tonnes on Friday, the highest level since March last year, suggesting that Chinese demand has not made a major impact. strong recovery since the Lunar New Year holidays.
The dollar advanced as traders ignored U.S. manufacturing data and waited for clues on when the Federal Reserve might begin cutting interest rates.
A stronger dollar makes metals more expensive for holders of other currencies.
The fall in the price of copper was limited by the interruption of mine supplies and the hope of a recovery in demand later in the quarter.
“The pace of consumption recovery following the end of the year is slightly slower than usual, but it will still be a month-on-month recovery, and we expect expects inventory accumulation to slow down,” broker Jinrui Futures said in a note.
LME aluminum fell 0.2% to $2,187 a tonne, nickel fell 1% to $17,290, zinc fell 0.7% to $2,404, lead fell 0.3% to $2,084 and tin lost 0.7% to $26,165.
SHFE aluminum edged down 0.3% to 18,790 yuan per tonne, zinc fell 0.4% to 20,540 yuan, lead remained almost flat at 15,945 yuan, while nickel rose 0.8% to 134,290 yuan and tin rose 0.2% to 216,070 yuan.
The LME’s spot zinc contract traded at a steep discount to the three-month contract, at $46.70 on Tuesday – the biggest discount since at least 2009 – as stocks rose in LME warehouses .
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($1 = 7.1990 yuan (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala))
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