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Business News/ Markets / Commodities/  Copper prices extend gains on strong China data
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Copper prices extend gains on strong China data

Three-month copper on the LME was up 0.6% at $6,164 a tonne, as of 0727 GMT, extending a 0.3% gain from the previous session
  • Donald Trump is considering a 60-day extension of the 1 March deadline for higher tariffs on Chinese imports
  • The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 0.7% at ¥48,490 ($7,172.23) a tonnePremium
    The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 0.7% at ¥48,490 ($7,172.23) a tonne

    Beijing: London copper prices moved higher for a second session on Thursday after better-than-expected trade data from top copper consumer China, while investors awaited the outcome of high-level Sino-US trade talks in Beijing.

    Unwrought copper imports into China, the world's top copper consumer, rose 12% from December to 479,000 tonnes in January, according to customs data, their highest level since September. Imports of copper concentrate also rose to 1.895 million tonnes, the second-highest monthly total on record.

    China's overall dollar-denominated exports climbed 9.1% from a year earlier, while imports dropped 1.5%. Both numbers beat analysts' expectations and boosted all base metals, except tin.

    "Given today's data out of China and the somewhat positive ... trade war rhetoric we should be set for higher levels ahead," Matt France, head of institutional sales, Asia, at brokerage Marex Spectron, said in a note.

    ■ Copper: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.6% at $6,164 a tonne, as of 0727 GMT, extending a 0.3% gain from the previous session.

    ■ SHFE Copper: The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 0.7% at ¥48,490 ($7,172.23) a tonne.

    ■ China Imports: "You obviously have to take January data with a grain of salt," said ANZ commodities strategist Daniel Hynes of the copper numbers. "Chinese New Year holidays fell in February again so I suspect, especially with the weaker import numbers in the last quarter of 2018, there was probably a bit of loading up prior to the Chinese New Year."

    ■ Aluminium: LME aluminium rose 0.2% to $1,864 a tonne, on course to snap six straight sessions of losses. China's aluminium exports surged to an all-time high of 552,000 tonnes in January.

    ■ Tariffs: US President Donald Trump is considering a 60-day extension of the 1 March deadline for higher tariffs on Chinese imports, Bloomberg reported.

    ■ Zinc: Floods in Australia's Queensland state are set to disrupt the rail delivery of zinc exports to the northern port of Townsville, with the line likely to be out of action for at least a month, analysts said. The metal used to galvanise steel was up by 0.6% in London after ending down 0.3% in the previous session.

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    Published: 14 Feb 2019, 06:22 PM IST
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