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Copper hits two-year high, buoyed by BHP bid for Anglo

Copper prices skyrocketed to twoyear highs on Monday, driven by supply issues highlighted by BHP Group's bid for Anglo American, however indications of sluggish demand in leading customer China kept rates short of a record peak.

Criteria copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME). had advanced 2% to $10,162 a metric load by 1628 GMT from an. earlier peak of $10,165 a heap, near the record high of. $ 10,845 hit in March 2022.

Traders said belief was boosted by Chinese home. developer CIFI Holdings agreeing a restructuring strategy. with shareholders. The slowdown in China's property and. building sectors have actually weighed on base metals markets.

A BHP and Anglo American tie-up would. produce an entity that controls 10% of global copper supplies,. exceeding Chile's Codelco and Freeport-McMoRan.

It (the quote) demonstrates how valuable copper is going to be for. miners. People are thinking need is going to grow fast, one. copper trader said. However unless Chinese need shows strong. healing there will be a pullback.

Copper has actually been improved by markets expecting tight. supplies and growing demand from energy transition applications. such as electric lorries along with new innovation such as. artificial intelligence and automation.

Weak Chinese demand can be seen in copper stocks in. storage facilities kept track of by the Shanghai Futures Exchange, which are. close to four-year highs after increasing above 287,000 lots from. around 33,000 tons at the start of this year << CU-STX-SGH >

. The Yangshan premium assessed by SMM << SMM-CUYP-CN > has. dropped to zero for the very first time on record, indicating weak. cravings to import copper into China.

The surge in copper rates remains puzzling to us as. copper's principles remain uninspired, said Marex specialist. Edward Meir.

In other places, the International Copper Study Group said the. global copper market

faces a surplus

of 162,000 this year.

The marketplace is waiting for the result of this week's U.S. central bank meeting, with forecasters expecting interest rates. to be continued hold.

A softer dollar was supporting commercial metals in general,. traders stated.

Aluminium increased 0.8% to $2,590 a ton, zinc. acquired 3.7% at $2,950, lead climbed up 1% to $2,230, tin. was up 0.6% at $32,600 and nickel advanced 0.5%. to $19,200.

(source: Reuters)