Benchmark London copper dipped on Thursday amid scepticism over the chances for a near-term preliminary trade deal between Washington and Beijing, despite U.S. President Donald Trump sounding more positive about the prospects.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange slipped 0.3% to $5,866 a tonne by 0145 GMT, surrendering some of the gains from the previous session.
* The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.4% at 47,170 yuan ($6,701.33) a tonne.
* China warned on Wednesday that U.S. legislation calling for a tougher response to Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority will affect bilateral cooperation, clouding prospects for a near-term trade deal between the two biggest economies.
* Trump said on Wednesday that trade talks with China were going “very well”, a day after suggesting that a deal might have to wait until after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
* China will act more forcefully to stabilise employment as the economy cools, state television channel CCTV said on Wednesday, citing a state cabinet meeting chaired by premier Li Keqiang.
* Brazil’s Vale SA plans to exit its troubled New Caledonia assets but still aims to ramp up nickel output ahead of rising demand for electric batteries.
* South Korean battery maker SK Innovation has signed a six-year deal to buy up to 30,000 tonnes of cobalt from miner Glencore, allowing it to produce batteries for 3 million electric vehicles.
* Aurubis AG, Europe’s biggest copper smelter, said an accident at its plant in Olen in Belgium in November has disrupted copper production but that deliveries to customers are continuing normally.
* China has issued a seventh batch of import quotas for scrap metal, including 17 quotas for a total of 7,970 tonnes of high-grade copper scrap.
