Latest News

Copper prices fall amid uncertainty over tariffs, interest rate, and Ukraine

Copper prices fell on Thursday, as investors waited for clarity on various issues including tariffs and the Ukraine conflict, Chinese demand, and U.S. Interest Rates.

The benchmark three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange dropped 0.5% in open-outcry official trading to $9751 per ton, after having fallen from its highest level in more than two weeks, which was reached on Tuesday at $9865.

LME copper is up 11% so far this year.

Ole Hansen is the head of commodity strategy for Saxo Bank, Copenhagen. "We are looking at not only the Friday negotiations (on Ukraine), but also Jackson Hole, and we will continue to focus on the central banks and FOMC," he said.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its minutes for the July meeting and next week the U.S. Central Bank's annual Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming takes place.

The market is still looking for big-picture answers, and until that happens, we will probably continue to see the range-bound behavior that we are seeing now.

Hansen said that the market is ripe for upside, but it needs a catalyst to break through its current range between $9,500 and $9,900.

The news that Chile, the largest copper producer in the world, has lowered its production growth estimate for 2025 to 1.5% per year. This is down from the 3% estimate made in May.

The most actively traded copper contract at the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.5%, to 78950 yuan (11,008.39 dollars) per ton.

A recent increase in the premium that traders pay to purchase copper on the spot market over the SHFE price also helped to support the market. The price of a ton has doubled in the last week, to 200 yuan.

Analysts at ANZ expect the market to be watching for critical China data this Friday. Retail sales, industrial output and fixed asset investments are expected to improve despite concerns over trade.

LME aluminium fell by 0.3% during official activity, to $2608 per ton. Zinc also eased to $2822, Nickel dropped 1.2%, to $15075, Lead lost 0.2%, to $1985, and Tin fell 0.4%, to $33,590.

Click here to see the latest news in metals.

(source: Reuters)