Copper breaks three days of losses on China hopes and dollar weakness

File image of a worker supervising a shipment of copper for export to Asia in the port of Valparaíso, Chile. August 21, 2006. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

By Eric Onstad

LONDON (Reuters) – Copper prices rallied on Friday, snapping three days of losses on dollar weakness and hopes top metals consumer China will recover from harsh COVID lockdowns.

* At 1116 GMT, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.72% at $9,419.50 a tonne, after losing around 2% in the past three sessions.

* The most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended the day up 1% at 71,900 yuan ($10,677.64) a tonne.

* On Friday, Shanghai took more gradual steps toward lifting its COVID-19 lockdown, while Chinese stocks rose on hopes of further stimulus measures.

* Caroline Bain of Capital Economics was wary of China offering much support to its economy. “The Chinese authorities are moving quite cautiously on stimulus. I think things will have to get a little bit worse (to see any major stimulus),” she said.

* The metals market was supported by a dollar index that hit a one-month low as traders lowered expectations of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

* A weaker greenback makes metals quoted in that currency cheaper for holders of other currencies.

* In other base metals, aluminum on the LME was up 0.6% at $2,882 a tonne; zinc gained 1.8% to $3,801.50; lead added 0.4% to $2,136.50; Tin was up 0.8% at $33,905; and nickel soared 3.9% to $28,250.

(1 dollar = 6.7337 yuan)

(Edited in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)

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