The price of copper slipped on Friday with weak trading data from leading Chinese metal consumers, sold by miners and as investors reduce positions in the midst of unstable changes in US tariff policies.
Benchmark Copper Three Months in London Metal Exchange (LME) HG1! down 0.5% at $ 9,684 per metric ton at 1100 GMT while AS Comex Copper Futures (HGC3) decreased 0.6% to $ 4.78 per lb.
LME Copper touched the highest in four months on Thursday at a price of $ 9,739 per ton with a weak dollar and after US President Donald Trump loosened his tariffs in Canada and Mexico.
Optimistic sentiment is brought to Asian trade at the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where Copper Hg1! At the peak of five months, but peeled to end the session up 0.3%.
Prices were withdrawn to new concerns about the second largest economy in the world after the data showed that Chinese imports unexpectedly shrank during January-February, while exports lost the momentum and surplus of China’s trade with the United States to grow.
In addition, copper imports that China did not take decreased by 7.2% of years to 837,000 metric tons in the same period.
“Weak Chinese imports raises questions about the real situation of their domestic economy and trade surplus will only increase the likelihood of more tariffs,” said Alastair Munro, a senior base metal strategy at the Marex broker.
Investors also shed positions towards the weekend, alert to unexpected news that could reach prices, he added.
“Considering all uncertainty, we live in a much higher frequency trading world. Now you have many people who don’t want to bring risks during the weekend. “
With LME Copper set for an increase of 3.4% this week, copper producers have sold to lock a higher price, said Munro.
Helps support the market is a weaker Dxy Dollar Index, which is on the track for its worst performance since Sunday in November when Trump won the US election.
Softer dollars make commodities valued in US currencies cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
LME Aluminum Ali1! up 0.1% to $ 2,700 per ton and nickel nickel1! Slightly changed at $ 16,305 while Seng Znc1! Lost 0.4% to $ 2,918, Lead Lead1! down 1.2% to $ 2,024 and Tin Ftin1! subside 0.3% to $ 32,480.
Source: Reuters
