Copper rally holds firm even as rising oil threatens growth outlook
XME•Copper holds near record levels
Copper hovered near record levels on Thursday, with scarce deliverable metal in markets outside the United States continuing to underpin prices, while oil breached $100-a-barrel and investors awaited U.S. inflation data.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (CMCU3) slipped 0.07% to $14,757 a metric ton as of 0330 GMT, after reaching a record $14,858.50 on Wednesday.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SCFcv1) rose 0.49% to 111,660 yuan ($16,646.54) a ton.
Other base metals mostly lower on LME and SHFE
Among other LME metals, aluminium (CMAL3) fell 0.33%, zinc (CMZN3) dropped 0.75%, lead (CMPB3) lost 0.21% and nickel (CMNI3) edged down 0.04%, while tin (CMSN3) gained 0.84%.
On the SHFE, aluminium (SAFcv1) fell 0.12%, zinc (SZNcv1) rose 0.09%, lead (SPBcv1) slipped 0.12%, nickel (SNIcv1) gained 0.84% and tin (SSNcv1) jumped 1.77%.
($1 = 6.7077 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Stockpiles and premiums suggest mixed supply tightness
Large stockpiles remain concentrated in the U.S. after months of inflows ahead of potential tariffs, while readily available metal in other markets remains tight. COMEX copper inventories (HG-STX-COMEX) edged up to 767,495 short tons, or 696,260 tons as of Wednesday.
However, LME cash copper premium against three-month (CMCU0-3) has dwindled to as low as $23.50 a ton from $545 reached in mid-August, implying some inflow into LME warehouses helped relieve near-term tightness.
