London copper and most other base metals rose on Thursday, backed by a softer dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve abandoned plans for a further rate rise this year, and by a lack of near-term supply.
The dollar nursed losses in Asia after the Fed roiled markets by abandoning all plans to raise rates this year, a signal its three-year campaign to normalise policy might be at an end.
COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper rose 0.9 percent to $6,517 a tonne by 0706 GMT, having touched a near three-week high earlier in the session. On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, copper gained 0.3 percent to close at 49,420 yuan ($7,399.31) a tonne.
Zinc: Shanghai zinc finished up 0.7 percent at 21,895 yuan a tonne amid a lack of supply. Prices hit 22,170 yuan last week, their highest since last April.
FOMC: The Federal Open Market Committee has put the brakes on any potential rate hikes this year, leading to a slightly softer dollar and a rally in metals in thin-volume trade in Asia, wrote Malcolm Freeman, director of Kingdom Futures, in a note.
TRADE: U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that the United States may leave tariffs on Chinese goods for a “substantial period” to ensure that Beijing complies with any trade agreement.
DEFICIT: The market was in a 387,000 tonne deficit in 2018 compared with a 265,000 tonne deficit the year before, the International Copper Study Group said.
SPREADS: Short-dated copper spreads have flared out over the past month, illustrating a lack of immediately available supply, even after 70,000 tonnes arrived in LME warehouses last week. CMCUT-0
LME: Data shows a dominant holder of copper warrants and nearby futures positions, suggesting lending guidance is in play.
PHILIPPINE NICKEL: Philippine nickel producer DMCI Mining Corp, a unit of conglomerate DMCI Holdings Inc, said it expected 2019 to be a tough year, with one of its two mines still suspended and its inventory almost depleted.
* ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Amnesty International attacked the electric vehicle (EV) industry on Thursday for selling itself as environmentally friendly while producing many of its batteries using polluting fossil fuels and unethically sourced minerals.- Reuters -