Copper falls as Middle East fighting renews inflation risks
XLB•Copper falls as fighting escalates
Copper prices fell on Monday as fighting escalated between the U.S. and Iran, with Tehran saying it had once again closed the vital energy corridor of the Strait of Hormuz.
Benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange slipped 0.64% at $13,398.5 a metric ton by 0701 GMT. The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 lost 0.68% to 103,100 yuan ($15,199.54) a ton.
Other metals decline on LME and SHFE
Among other LME metals, zinc CMZN3 lost 0.88%, lead CMPB3 lost 0.98%, nickel CMNI3 lost 1.29% and tin CMSN3 dipped 0.23%.
Elsewhere on SHFE, zinc SZNcv1 lost 0.84%, lead SPBcv1 lost 0.66%, nickel SNIcv1 dipped 0.23% and tin SSNcv1 dropped 1.7%.
Aluminium and other base metals also weaken
Aluminium largely shrugged off a potential disruption to supply that looked set to return to capacity following an interim peace deal after war first broke out in the key Middle East region on February 28.
The light metal fell on the LME CMAL3 by 0.33% and declined on the SHFE SAFcv1 by 0.65%.
Aluminium prices have been pressured by announcements of a string of production restarts. Most recently, on Friday, major supplier Emirates Global Aluminium said it had restarted its alumina refinery in the UAE.
At the same time, visible aluminium stocks in LME-registered warehouses were at their lowest levels since 2022, with the vast majority of available stocks - 95% - being of Russian origin in June, exchange data on Friday showed.
