Copper hits over 1-month high on Chile strikes, U.S.-China trade hopes

SINGAPORE - London copper rose to its highest in over a month on Monday, as protests in top producer Chile raised supply concerns, while hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal helped lift sentiment.

"Copper prices managed to rebound as strike action in Chile continued," said ANZ in a note, citing strikes at Antofagasta Minerals' Antucoya copper mine and Teck Resources Ltd's Carmen de Andacollo mine and wider riots in Santiago and other major cities.

Chile's government will extend a state of emergency to cities in its north and south after at least seven people died amid violent clashes and arson attacks over the weekend, its interior minister said on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said he thinks a U.S.-China trade deal will be signed by the time the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings take place in Chile on Nov. 16-17, easing worries over trade frictions.

FUNDAMENTALS

COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 0.5% to $5,837.50 a tonne, its highest since Sept. 20, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced 1% to 47,160 yuan ($6,672.51) a tonne by 0255 GMT.

NICKEL: LME nickel fell 0.8% to $16,095 a tonne, its lowest since Aug. 29, while nickel dropped 2.4% to 125,920 yuan a tonne, its lowest since Aug. 30.

PRICES: LME aluminium eased 0.1%, zinc fell 0.3%, lead was down 0.3% and tin dropped 1.1%. In Shanghai, aluminium fell 0.3%, zinc rose 0.7%, lead declined 0.3% while tin decreased 2.4%.

LEAD: Unexpected shortages of lead due to supply disruptions have helped prices of the car battery metal to outperform other metals such as copper, aluminium and zinc, but looming surpluses mean this trend is unlikely to persist.

CHINA SCRAP: China has issued a fifth batch of quotas for imports of recently restricted types of scrap metal, including another 57,365 tonnes of high-grade copper scrap, according to a notice from a unit of the environment ministry.

CHINA OUTPUT: China's September refined copper output rose by 11.6% year-on-year to 838,000 tonnes, the highest since December 2018, while September zinc output rose by 18.9% year-on-year to 548,000 tonnes, the highest since December 2017, official data showed.

BHP: BHP , the world's biggest miner, said on Monday it had signed four renewable energy contracts to supply all of its Chilean copper operations beginning in 2021, cutting energy costs by 20%.

MARKETS NEWS

Asian stocks were steady in a cautious start to the week, while the British pound fell following a delay to a crucial vote on Britain's divorce from the European Union.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0600 Germany Producer Prices MM, YY Sept

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