Copper consolidates after strongest week since May
XLB•Other metals mostly rise
Among other LME metals, aluminium CMAL3 rose 1.19%, zinc CMZN3 added 0.46%, lead CMPB3 gained 0.79%, nickel CMNI3 edged up 0.09% and tin CMSN3 climbed 0.42%.
On the SHFE, aluminium SAFcv1 rose 0.77%, lead SPBcv1 gained 1.02% and nickel SNIcv1 climbed 0.46%. Zinc SZNcv1 fell 1.12% and tin SSNcv1 dropped 1.06%.
China demand signals soften
In China, data released over the weekend showed consumer inflation slowed in July, while producer-price inflation eased to 3.5% from 4.1% in June, pointing to still-subdued domestic demand.
The Yangshan copper premium SMM_CUYP-CN, a gauge of China's appetite for imported copper, fell to $101 a ton on Friday, its lowest since July 20. The domestic spot premium SMM-CU-PND dropped to 70 yuan a ton, the lowest since July 16.
SHFE copper stocks CU-STX-SGH edged up 1.1% to 70,116 tons last week, their first weekly increase since June 8, after falling to a more than two-year low.
China's imports of unwrought copper and copper products fell 11.5% year on year to 425,000 tons in July, while January-July imports declined 6.2% to 2.92 million tons, customs data showed on Friday. The year-to-date data was the lowest for the period since 2019.
Copper holds gains after strongest weekly rise since May
London copper edged higher, consolidating above $14,000 on Monday after posting its strongest weekly gain since May, as concerns that the Democratic Republic of Congo's copper concentrate export ban could hit supply eased and some physical indicators in top consumer China softened.
Benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.42% to $14,135 a ton as of 0705 GMT, while the most-active copper contract SCFcv1 on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.16% to close daytime trading at 107,850 yuan ($15,991.28) a ton.
