Copper hits week high on risk appetite after initial victory of French centrist

LONDON — Copper hit a week high on Tuesday as risk appetite continued to strengthen following centrist Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday, though gains were capped by worries over demand in China.

With opinion polls showing Mr. Macron as strong favorite to beat far- right, Euroskeptic candidate Marine Le Pen in the final run- off, investors have pretty much priced out the risk of a Brexit- like political shock.

Also helping copper, the dollar languished near five-month lows versus the euro, making dollarpriced copper cheaper for nonUS investors.

“Positive sentiment is impacting copper this morning, but we are still bearish, we don’t buy into the shortage story. Also, the Chinese economy looks like its reached a cyclical peak… look at the imports data published by customs,” said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.

Three- month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) ended up 0.90% at $5,706 a ton, having earlier hit its highest in a week at $5,722.

China’s refined copper imports fell 36.20% in March versus a year ago, customs data showed. China consumes about 40% of the world’s copper.

LME copper is biased to fall to $ 5,592 per ton, after its failure to break a resistance at $ 5,689.

Freeport- McMoRan, Inc., which resumed copper concentrate exports from Indonesia on Friday, said it will immediately begin negotiations with Jakarta on a long-term license for Grasberg, the world’s second-biggest copper mine.

EYES STILL ON US TAX MOVES

World stocks hit record highs amid relief at Mr. Macron’s victory and as investors turned their attention to US President Donald Trump’s promise to announce “a big tax reform and tax reduction” on Wednesday.

Aluminum producer Alcoa Corp. raised its forecast for aluminum demand growth in 2017 to 4.50-5%, up from 4% projected in January. It also sees a “modest” market surplus of 300,000700,000 tons.

Riots paralyzed a major bauxite mining hub in Guinea, Africa’s top producer of the aluminummaking raw material, as residents erected barricades and burned tires to protest against high pollution and power cuts.

Aluminum closed up 0.90% at $1,963 a ton.

Among other industrial metals, tin ended down 0.10% at $19,625, lead closed up 0.40% at $2,170, zinc ended up 0.10% at $2,605.50 while nickel closed up 0.70% at $9,320, having earlier hit its lowest since last June at $9,230. —