Copper prices slipped from a one-week high on Thursday, as demand worries due to a spike in COVID-19 infections in top consumer China overshadowed support from a weaker dollar and declining inventories.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was down 0.2% at $8,377.00 a tonne by 0710 GMT, after hitting its highest since Dec. 15 earlier in the session.
The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 ended daytime trading up 0.3% at 65,820 yuan ($9,429.80) a tonne.
China may be struggling to keep a tally of COVID-19 infections as the country experiences a big spike in cases, a senior World Health Organization official said on Wednesday, a surge that could seriously dent the world’s number two economy.
Mainland China’s Health Commission reported 3,030 new symptomatic coronavirus cases for Dec. 21, compared with 3,101 new cases a day earlier.
“COVID is kind of expected, China won’t back down on closing economy again,” a Singapore-based metals trader said.
However, “metals are supported by a refreshed pledge by People’s Bank of China to support the property sector, the weaker dollar and on bullish U.S. equities.”
The dollar USD= fell 0.3% against its rivals, making the metals priced in the U.S. currency more attractive to non-dollar buyers. /
China will seize the time moment to implement policy measures to support the economy, aiming for an improvement in growth in early 2023, state media on Wednesday quoted the cabinet as saying.
The latest data available show copper stocks in LME warehouse MCUSTX-TOTAL fell to their lowest since Nov. 11 at 81,350 tonnes.
Asian stocks climbed into the black on Thursday after an upbeat reading on U.S. consumers cheered Wall Street investors. /GLOB
Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 was steady at $2,392.50 a tonne, zinc CMZN3 slipped 0.4% to $2,997, lead CMPB3 eased 0.2% to $2,208, and tin CMSN3 was flat at $24,060.
SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was flat at 18,635 yuan a tonne, zinc SZNcv1 fell 0.7% to 23,340 yuan and nickel SNIcv1 rose 1.6% to 218,960 yuan, and tin SSNcv1 was up 0.3% at 195,110 yuan.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Uttaresh.V, Kenneth Maxwell and Rashmi Aich)
