London base metal prices rose across the board in early Asian trade on Tuesday, supported by a weaker dollar and tracking stock markets higher after the European Commission agreed to changes in a Brexit deal.
A softer greenback makes dollar-denominated metals cheaper for holders of other currencies and can boost prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had climbed 0.4 percent to $6,434.50 a tonne by 0216 GMT, extending a 0.2-percent gain from the previous session. The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange added 0.5 percent to 49,250 yuan ($7,334.98) a tonne.
* COPPER: Production at Chinese miner MMG Ltd’s Las Bambas copper deposit in Peru could fall “in the near-term” due to a month-long road blockade by a community that was relocated to build the mine, the company said.
* TRADE: Chinese Vice Premier Liu He held a telephone call on Tuesday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on key issues in their trade talks, state news agency Xinhua said.
* U.S. DOLLAR: The dollar index fell almost 0.2 percent to 97.056 on a modest improvement in risk appetite.
* CHINA: China’s automobile sales fell 13.8 percent year-on-year in February, marking the eighth consecutive month of decline in the world’s largest auto market.
* ALUMINIUM: Queues to take aluminium out of LME-approved warehouses owned by ISTIM UK in Port Klang, Malaysia rose to 229 days in February from 118 days in January and zero days in December.
*OTHER METALS: Nickel was the biggest gainer in base metals on the LME, rising 1.2 percent to $13,050 a tonne, while aluminium added 0.7 percent and zinc, Monday’s top performer, nudged up 0.5 percent.
* ZINC: The global zinc market deficit narrowed to 28,000 tonnes in January from a revised deficit of 62,400 tonnes in December, data from the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) showed.