XLB•Aluminium CMAL3 was flat at $3,192 a ton, although the backwardation in the three-month spread CMAL0-3 steepened to $18, while zinc CMZN3 slipped 0.2% to $3,584.
Nickel CMNI3 edged up 0.2% to $17,265, notching a one-month high, tin CMSN3 dropped 1.1% to and lead eased to .
CMPB3Oil prices LCOc1 rose for a fifth day, jumping as much as 7.6% to a two-month high of $101.20 after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they attacked two oil tankers as part of a blockade on Saudi Arabia.
Higher energy prices are weighing on the outlook for the global economy, for which copper is considered a bellwether, and increasing the likelihood of increases to interest rates.
The European Central Bank kept rates unchanged on Thursday but left the door open to another hike in September.
"It is going to be a rocky couple of days in most markets as investors watch the disturbing rise in oil and the negative implication that this spike should generate across a number of complexes," Marex consultant Ed Meir wrote in a note.
Thin inventories were still supporting copper prices, however, with available LME stocks MCUSTX-TOTAL of 107,850 tons the lowest since January. The cash LME copper contract was trading at a $4 premium over the three-month forward CMCU0-3, indicating tight near-term supply.
In top metals consumer China, the Yangshan copper premium SMM-CUYP-CN — a gauge of demand for imports — was assessed at $115 a ton on Wednesday, the highest daily assessment since November 2022.
Analysts have turned more bullish on copper, lifting price forecasts in a Reuters poll, although estimates remain below current levels as uncertainty over U.S. tariffs, mine supply and the Middle East clouds the outlook.
Copper fell sharply on Thursday after oil prices surged above $100 a barrel on escalating hostilities in the Middle East, stoking inflation concerns that could dampen economic growth.
Benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange was down 1.5% at $13,603.50 a metric ton as of 1600 GMT, propped up by its 50-day moving average around $13,572.
