London copper was little changed on Friday after closing marginally higher in the last session with prices capped by trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
China rejected fresh U.S. accusations of perpetuating “unfair” trade practices and urged Washington on Thursday to stop making provocations, showing little sign of backing down days ahead a high-stakes meeting between leaders from both countries.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange unchanged at $6,255 a tonne 0135 GMT and the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.5 percent to 49,760 yuan ($7,177.68) a tonne.
* Indonesia’s environment ministry aims to resolve within two weeks environmental issues that have been holding up the state’s plans to acquire a majority stake in Freeport McMoRan Inc’s Grasberg copper mine.
* LME zinc rose for a third consecutive session, underpinned by tightening supplies. Three-month zinc on LME added 0.5 percent to $2,594 a tonne and prices in Shanghai rose 0.7 percent to 21,240 yuan a tonne.
At 123,500 tonnes, LME stocks have roughly halved since mid-August. MZNSTX-TOTAL
