Copper jumps two percent after upbeat US jobs data

LONDON — Copper rose 2% on Wednesday, reflecting strength across base metals following upbeat jobs data from the United States and the return of Chinese buyers after a two-day break.

A 1% drop in copper prices since China, the world’s biggest consumer of industrial metals, closed for its latest holiday tempted buyers.

“Prices got a boost with the publication of the latest ADP ( jobs) numbers,” Commerzbank analyst Carsten Menke said.

“It seems to have been enough to push the optimism among market participants higher.”

UNDER PRESSURE

Copper came under pressure last week from indications that a number of production outages that had driven prices sharply higher in February were coming to an end.

A jump in oil prices to their highest in a month also boosted a broader appetite for commodities, analysts said.

Three- month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed up 2% at $5,895 a ton. A move back through resistance at the 100- day moving average at $5,790 improved its technical picture, traders said.

US stocks rose after data from payrolls processor ADP showed private employers added 263,000 jobs in March, more than the number they hired in February and well above economists’ expectations.

WORRIED

Wider markets were treading water ahead of the release of minutes later on Wednesday of the Federal Reserve’s meeting, and a potentially tense meeting between US President Donald J. Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week.

Although worried about the prospect of a trade war, American businesses operating in China nonetheless want Mr. Trump to wring concessions on market access from Mr. Xi when the two meet.

LME nickel closed up 3.20% at $ 10,295 a ton, driven higher by gains in the steel sector after a cyclone in Australia damaged transport routes for coking coal. Zinc ended the day at $ 2,778 a ton, up 1.50%.

The discount of LME cash zinc to the three- month contract moved to $27.25 a ton, its widest since October 2015, indicating adequate supply of refined metal in the market.

Among other industrial metals, LME lead closed 0.10% higher at $ 2,312 a ton, tin ended up 0.40% at $20,105 a ton, while aluminum finished the day up 1.20% at $1,961. —