London copper nears two-week low amid China holiday; aluminum recovers

MELBOURNE — London copper slipped on Monday and touched a near two-week low hit in the previous session on pressure from a stronger dollar, while a holiday in China drained buying interest from the market.

London Metal Exchange ( LME) copper eased by 0.20% on Monday to $7,006.50 by 0118 GMT, following losses of 2.2% in the previous session.

It earlier touched a near twoweek low of $ 6,996 first hit on Friday.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange was closed on Monday for a holiday.

Hedge funds and money managers raised their net long positions in COMEX copper in the week to June 12, by 28,941 contracts to 77,740 contracts, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. This was the strongest net long position since January.

FACTORS

A minor leak has been detected in the sulphuric acid storage plant in Vedanta’s south Indian copper smelter, a government official said on Sunday, about a month after the state ordered its shutdown after protests in which 13 people died.

LME aluminum, which hit its weakest in seven weeks at $2,200.50 a ton on Friday, recaptured the 100-day moving average as it traded at $2,215.

Japan’s exports rose in May at the fastest pace in four months thanks to increased shipments of cars, car parts, and semiconductor equipment in a sign that global demand is gaining strength.

Panasonic Corp. expects to more than triple its cobalt consumption in five years’ time, industry sources said, even as the company aims to develop cobaltfree automotive batteries in the near future. —