Shanghai copper hits record high
SHANGHAI: Shanghai copper prices hit a record high on Friday while prices in London touched an 11-month peak, buoyed by a potential output cut in top producer China.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) advanced 1.3 per cent to $8,998.50 per metric tone by 0951 GMT, ater hiting $9,066.50 earlier in the session, the highest since April 2023.
The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) closed up 2 per cent at 73,130 yuan ($10,161.88) a tone, having surged to a record high of 73,270 yuan earlier in the session.
Major Chinese copper smelters have reached an agreement to lower operation rates, adjust maintenance plans and postpone new projects, state-backed research house Antaike said on Thursday.
China accounted for 47 per cent of the global refined copper output last year, data from the World Bureau of Metal Statistics showed. It is also the world’s biggest copper consumer.
However, it is unclear whether the smelters will commit to the cuts and to what level. Meanwhile, demand outlook remained flat amid subdued economic growth and a lack of big stimulus support. “Copper has no reason for being here today. We should be selling it,” said a metals trader.
LME aluminium rose 0.8 per cent to $2,270.50 a tone, nickel climbed 1.3 per cent to $18,315, zinc advanced 1 per cent to $2,572.50, tin was 1.5 per cent higher at $28,670 while lead fell 1.4 per cent to $2,128.
SHFE aluminium rose 0.2 per cent to 19,295 yuan a tone, tin advanced 1.1 per cent to 225,700 yuan, nickel edged up 0.1 per cent to 141,870 yuan, while zinc was litle changed at 21,485 yuan and lead fell 0.1 per cent to 16,310 yuan.
Prices were capped by a stronger dollar, which makes greenback-priced metals more expensive to holders of other currencies.