SINGAPORE: London copper prices slid on Tuesday, with the market closely watching the progress made in the ongoing trade talks between the world’s two largest economies in London for a price direction.
The three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange shed 0.6% to $9,738 per metric ton by 0703 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 0.3% to 78,880 yuan a ton ($10,975.22).
The US-China trade talks are set to run into a second day on Tuesday, as Washington and Beijing aim to ease a bitter dispute that has widened from tariffs to rare earth curbs, threatening a global supply chain shock and economic slowdown.
“The Trump administration is prepared to remove a recent spate of measures targeting ship design software, jet engine parts, chemicals and nuclear materials.
The apparent cooling of trade brinkmanship sparked optimism across markets.
This helped offset concerns that the trade war is taking a heavy toll on economic activity,“ ANZ said.
Copper stocks in LME-registered warehouses fell 10,000 tons on Monday to 122,400 tons, suggesting that the shipment to the US has been continuing amid the potential threat of US tariffs on copper imports.
Among other LME metals, nickel ceded 0.1% to $15,400, aluminium eased 0.2% to $2,473 a metric ton, zinc slipped 0.3% to $2,642.5, and tin edged down 0.8% to $32,450, while lead gained 0.3% to $1,993.
Copper rallies to one-month peak on signs of improving demand
Among SHFE metals, zinc softened for a third trading day, losing 1.3% to 21,845 yuan a ton, the lowest since late April.
“China’s domestic demand has shown signs of weakening recently, and buyers have been procuring to meet their immediate needs at lower prices possible,” Shanghai-based commodity market research house SHMET said.
SHFE nickel fell 1.1% to 121,390 yuan, aluminum fell 0.1% to 19,980 yuan, while lead gained 0.9% to 16,880 yuan and tin was up 0.2% at 263,420 yuan.
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