Benchmark London copper prices 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 positive again about the prospects.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.2% at $5,873 a tonne, as of 0701 GMT, surrendering some of the gains from the previous session.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended up 0.5% at 47,200 yuan ($6,705.59) a tonne, rebounding after four straight sessions of declines.
Clouding prospects for a near-term trade deal, 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. The warning came amid conflicting signals from Trump on the trade talks, which he said on Wednesday were going “very well”, a day after suggesting that a deal might have to wait until after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. “The on/off noise we continue to hear on this subject is unlikely to disappear anytime soon and is set to continue dictating broader market sentiment,” ING analysts said in a note.
NICKEL: 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.
COBALT: 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.
COPPER: 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.
SCRAPS: 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. PRICES: London nickel edged up 0.2%, but Shanghai nickel dropped 1.3%, declining for an eighth straight session amid an oversupply of stainless steel in China. Shanghai zinc climbed 1.3%, while London zinc was up 0.3%.
