Most industrial metals lost ground on Tuesday as a U.S.-China trade deal looked uncertain, weighing on demand outlook of industrial metals.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, will begin trade talks on Thursday, the first minister-level negotiations in several months.
Base metals prices, except for nickel, have been under pressure on worries about global economic growth and demand for industrial metals as the U.S.-China trade war extended.
“Can something happen? I guess, maybe. Who knows. But I think it’s probably unlikely,” U.S. President Donald Trump said, when asked about the chances of progress at this week’s trade talks.
Chances of a resolution in the prolonged trade dispute dimmed further after Washington blacklisted some Chinese companies.
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell as much as 0.3% to $5,702.50 a tonne in early trade, but flipped to rise 0.6% by 0317 GMT to a one-week high at $5,754.50 a tonne, as Chinese traders returned from a week-long holiday.
* “People seem to expect copper prices to go up but the (Codelco) premium stayed the same, and seems like the trade talks will not have a good result,” said a China-based metals analyst.
* CODELCO PREMIUM: The world’s biggest copper miner, Codelco, has agreed its 2020 physical copper premium to European buyers at $98 a tonne, the same level as for 2019, copper industry sources said.
* LME PRICES: LME aluminium fell 0.3%, nickel declined 1.9%, lead lost 0.7%, tin eased 0.4%, while zinc rose 1%.
* SHFE: The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) fell 0.4% to 46,920 yuan ($6,584.25) a tonne, zinc rose 0.2%, while lead advanced 1.6%, and nickel fell 0.2%.
* COPPER OUTPUT: August production by copper miner Codelco rose 9.3% year-on-year to 154,700 tonnes, while output fell 8.5% year-on-year to 770,800 tonnes at BHP’s Escondida mine. Output rose 0.5% year-on-year to 352,500 tonnes at Anglo American’s and Glencore’s Collahuasi in the same month, state copper commission Cochilco said on Monday.
* ANTOFAGASTA: Chile’s Antofagasta, one of the world’s largest copper producers, has requested government mediation to resolve a contractual dispute with supervisors at its flagship Los Pelambres mine, the supervisors’ union said.
* CHINA: China’s services sector grew at its slowest pace in seven months in September despite a strong increase in new orders, as operating expenses continued to rise at the end of the third quarter, a private survey showed.