Copper firms as metal earmarked to exit LME triggers buying
XLB•Zinc, aluminium and other metals
Elsewhere, zinc prices rose to $3,850 a ton, the highest since June 2022 on concern about shortages outside China, where stocks of the metal in warehouses approved by the Shanghai Futures Exchange have more than doubled this year ZN-STX-SGH.
Zinc CMZN3 rose 0.4% to $3,840 a ton.
LME zinc stocks at 93,250 tons MZNSTX-TOTAL have dropped 25% since the middle of June.
A distortion in which both supply and demand are shrinking leaves the market looking tighter than weak consumption would justify, said Panmure Liberum analyst Tom Price, in a note.
Traders said large holdings of zinc warrants and cash 0#LME-WHC contracts were adding to concerns about supplies on the LME.
In other metals, aluminium CMAL3 firmed 0.1% to $3,242, lead CMPB3 gained 0.3% to $1,905, tin CMSN was little changed at $55,895 and nickel slipped 0.5% to $16,965.
Copper rises on cancelled warrants and weaker dollar
Copper prices rose on Monday as a jump in cancelled warrants or metal earmarked for delivery on the London Metal Exchange triggered buying, while the lower U.S. currency reinforced positive sentiment for dollar-priced industrial metals.
Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the LME was up 0.2% at $14,246 a metric ton at 0920 GMT. Prices of the metal used in the power and construction industries touched $14,396 last week, the highest since the $14,527.50 peak hit in January.
The cancellations 0#MCUSTX-LOC are mostly in LME registered warehouses in the U.S. and Asia — in free-trade zones — and is likely to be delivered to Comex or to traders and consumers inside the United States, industry sources said.
Traders and producers have been taking copper to the United States since President Donald Trump mooted import tariffs in February last year. Comex copper stocks HG-STX-COMEX stand at record highs of 742,778 short tons, or 673,836 metric tons.
