BEIJING, – London copper touched a more than two-year high on Wednesday, aided by weaker U.S. dollar and bullish demand outlook, while prices on the CME hit a record high.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 1.7% at $10,290 per metric ton by 0730 GMT, the highest since April 2022.
The CME May contract jumped 4.5% to a record high of $5.178 a pound.
The dollar traded near a one-month low amid lower Treasury yields as traders braced for a key U.S. inflation report later in the day that could dictate the path of Federal Reserve policy.
A weaker dollar makes it cheaper to buy the greenback-priced commodity.
Also supporting the market was possible more efforts by top consumer China to revive its property sector, a main consumer for industrial metals.
China is considering a plan for local governments nationwide to buy millions of unsold homes, Bloomberg News said on Wednesday, pushing up its blue-chip CSI 300 real estate index .
Investors have raised their bets on copper given a supply shortage of raw material this year and booming demand outlook.
The recent surge of U.S. prices came with a short squeeze on the futures market as traders appear to have been caught short on their trades and are being forced to buy back to cover their positions, ANZ analysts said.
Elsewhere, the most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dipped 0.1% to 81,780 yuan a ton.
LME aluminium advanced 0.7% at $2,568.50 a ton, tin climbed 2.6% to $34,235, nickel gained 0.5% to $19,165, zinc moved 1.6% higher to $3,050 and lead rose 1.3% to $2,287.50.
SHFE aluminium declined 0.5% to 20,505 yuan a ton, zinc added 0.6% to 23,940 yuan, nickel little moved at 144,380 yuan, lead advanced 2.7% to 18,810 yuan and tin rose 2.7% to 277,200 yuan.
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DATA/EVENTS
0645 France CPI Final MM, YY April
0900 EU GDP Flash Estimate QQ, YY Q1
1000 EU Reserve Assets Total April
1230 US Core CPI MM, SA; YY, NSA April
1230 US CPI MM, SA; YY, NSA April
1230 US CPI Wage Earner April
1230 US Retail Sales MM April
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
