London copper prices rose on Monday, supported by tight supply and after U.S. President Donald Trump said he may not impose more tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump made the comment after Beijing sent a list of measures it was willing to take to resolve trade tensions, although he added it was unacceptable that some major items were omitted from the list.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had risen 0.4 percent to $6,229 a tonne by 0153 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.4 percent at 49,780 yuan ($7,175.91) a tonne.
* Headline copper inventories in LME-registered warehouses fell by 5,425 tonnes to 161,025 tonnes, nearing last month’s 10-year low of 136,675 tonnes.
* The premium of cash copper over the three-month contract , which has drifted from a near four-year high of $47 last month to $18.50 but is still far above recent norms.
* Trade tensions were clearly on display at an APEC meeting in Papua New Guinea over the weekend, where leaders failed to agree on a communique for the first time ever.
* Federal Reserve policymakers on Friday signaled further interest rate increases ahead, even as they raised relatively muted concerns over a potential global slowdown.
* Canadian miner Lundin said it was cutting 106 jobs at its Candelaria copper mine in Chile to “improve competitiveness and productivity,” amid reports that workers had begun a 48-hour strike.
* Barrick Gold Corp, soon to become the world’s largest bullion miner, is interested in adding more copper assets as long as the red metal is accompanied by bullion, executives said on Friday.
* India’s Vedanta Ltd has been selling copper concentrate on the spot market from stockpiles at its Sterlite smelter, disposing of around 70,000 tonnes of copper concentrate unused since the plant closed earlier this year amid pollution concerns.
* The Philippines’ environment ministry said nine suspended mines will be allowed to resume operations if they rectify previous violations of environmental regulations, a move that could boost nickel output in the major supplier of the metal.
