Copper gains but set to snap seven-week winning streak
XLB•Weaker dollar supports base metals
A weaker U.S. currency =USD offered support to base metals on Friday. The dollar index hovered near a three-month low and was headed for a weekly decline of more than 0.8%.
The dollar has come under pressure after the U.S. Treasury moved to expand buybacks of long-dated government debt this week, while investors remained concerned about the country's fiscal outlook.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday the government could further increase repurchases, after the Treasury said a day earlier it would double longer-dated buybacks to at least $4 billion per operation.
LME inventories build as spreads narrow
Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the LME MCUSTX-TOTAL continued to build, totalling 239,925 tons on Thursday, up just over 17% from 204,975 tons on Aug. 14, when stocks were at their lowest since February.
The premium for cash copper over three-month delivery CMCU0-3 surged to $545 a ton on Monday, its widest since late 2021. It has narrowed to around $76 in the current session.
More than 38,000 tons of copper was delivered into the LME warehouse system over the first three days of the week after inventories had fallen for 42 consecutive sessions through last Friday.
Other base metals trade mixed on LME and SHFE
Among other LME metals, aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.03%, zinc CMZN3 added 0.48%, lead CMPB3 gained 0.16%, nickel CMNI3 climbed 0.41% and tin CMSN3 advanced 0.44%.
On the SHFE, aluminium SAFcv1 added 0.11%, zinc SZNcv1 jumped 1.38%, lead SPBcv1 rose 1.22%, nickel SNIcv1 fell 0.67% and tin SSNcv1 gained 0.92%.
($1 = 6.7216 Chinese yuan renminbi)
