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SINGAPORE - London copper prices bounced back from early losses on Thursday after reports that the United States is weighing a currency pact with China as part of a partial deal that could see a planned tariff hike next week being suspended.
The White House plans to roll out a formerly agreed currency pact with China, which will be followed by further talks on issues like forced technology transfers and intellectual property, Bloomberg cited people familiar with the talks as saying.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose as much as 0.8% to $5,727 a tonne, after falling 0.3% earlier in the session on other reports suggesting a less optimistic outlook for the U.S.-China trade talks.
Reuters reported China had lowered expectations for this week's trade talks as they are surprised and upset by the U.S. blacklisting of Chinese companies, while the South China Morning Post said the two countries made no progress in deputy-level trade talks held on Monday and Tuesday in Washington.
FUNDAMENTALS
LONDON PRICES: LME nickel rose 1.2%, zinc advanced 1.3%, lead increased 0.5%, tin edged up 0.2% and aluminium was almost unchanged.
SHANGHAI PRICES: Shanghai copper dipped 0.2% to 46,580 yuan ($6,549.03) a tonne, aluminium eased 0.4%, lead fell 0.5%, zinc rose 0.8% and tin edged up 0.1%.
ALUMINIUM: A shortage of aluminium in China as domestic supplies fall has boosted prices in Shanghai, which are outperforming those on the London Metal Exchange where weaker demand in the rest of world is reflected, a divergence expected to dominate for some time.
KCM SMELTER: Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) smelter was on Wednesday shut down for annual maintenance two days earlier than planned after a leak, the provisional liquidator Milingo Lungu said.
CHINA: China's cabinet unveiled steps on Tuesday to ease growing fiscal strains on local governments, amid a push to cut taxes to support the slowing economy.
MARKETS NEWS
Global stocks tumbled and the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc gained in early Asian trade, on signs Washington and Beijing were still wide apart on trade issues and were making no progress in deputy-level talks.
DATA/EVENTS AHEAD (GMT)
0830 UK GDP Estimate 3M/3M Aug
0830 UK GDP Estimate MM, YY Aug
0830 UK Manufacturing Output MM Aug
1200 Brazil Retail Sales YY Aug
1230 US CPI MM, SA Sept
1230 US Initial Jobless Claims weekly
PRICES
Three month LME copper
Most active ShFE copper
Three month LME aluminium
Most active ShFE aluminium
Three month LME zinc
Most active ShFE zinc
Three month LME lead
Most active ShFE lead
Three month LME nickel
Most active ShFE nickel
Three month LME tin
Most active ShFE tin
ARBS ($1 = 7.1125 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
© Reuters News 2019