Most industrial metals on the London Metal Exchange eased on Wednesday, as investors were cautious ahead of the result of the U.S. Federal Reserve rate meeting later in the day.
“For the market to move to higher levels, it needs to see something new and different. That really comes down to some kind of evidence that the Chinese stimulus is coming through,” said Guy Wolf, Global Head of Market Analytics at Marex Spectron.
“Our view that it is going to come through and I think we are going to go higher. But it is in the very short term there needs to be something tangible,” Wolf said.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dipped 0.1 percent to $6,450 a tonne by 0707 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange eased 0.1 percent to 49,190 yuan ($7,328.12) a tonne.
* London aluminium eased 0.1 percent from a three-month high reached in the previous session following a Norsk Hydro cyber attack, while Shanghai aluminium touched near a three-month high of 13,792 yuan a tonne.
* OTHERS: London nickel, zinc, lead and tin all inched up.
* FED: The U.S. Federal Reserve will announce the result of its policy meeting later on Wednesday. It is widely expected to hold its benchmark rate unchanged, but investors will look for any clues on future rate moves.
* TRADE: U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to China next week for trade talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
* AERIS/GLENCORE: Australian copper producer Aeris Resources Ltd said it had offered to buy global trader and miner Glencore’s copper mine in the state of New South Wales for $575 million.
* RIO TINTO BAUXITE: Rio Tinto said has suspended its Weipa mining operations bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminium, at the northeastern tip of the country ahead of a cyclone.
* KGHM STRIKE: Miner KGHM will extend negotiations with a union at its Chilean copper mine Sierra Gorda, averting a strike, a union representative said.
* CODELCO SMELTER: The reactivation of a smelter belonging to Chile’s state-owned Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, will take more time than expected, the country’s mining minister said on Tuesday.