METALS-Copper rises on dollar weakness; US-China trade war remains in focus
By Polina Devitt
LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Copper and other base metals were on track to finish a very volatile week on the rise in London on Friday, supported by a weaker dollar, though gains were capped by the potential for trade conflict between the U.S. and China to curb demand.
Benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 2.0% at $9,166.50 a metric ton by 1622 GMT.
The metal used widely in power and construction is up 4.5% this week after hitting a multi-month low of $8,105 a ton on Monday as tariff sparring between the world's two largest economies fuelled global recession fears.
Beijing increased its tariffs on U.S. imports to 125% on Friday, hitting back against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to hike duties on Chinese goods effectively to 145% and raising the stakes in a trade war that threatens to up-end global supply chains.
However, consumer buying and temporary technical factors helped to restore a little stability in metals.
The spread between the cash LME copper contract and benchmark three-month futures CMCU0-3 has become volatile ahead of next week's LME contracts settlement and was last at a premium of $37 a ton, compared with a $63 discount a week ago.
The most active Comex copper contract HGc2 rose by 4.6% to $4.537 per lb, widening the premium over the LME benchmark. 0#LMECMXCU:
On the demand side, Chilean copper giant Codelco said on Thursday that it was seeing strong demand from China this quarter.
Supporting this, the Yangshan copper premium SMM-CUYP-CN, which reflects demand for copper imported into China, remained at $89 a ton, its strongest since late 2023.
Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 19% this week.
LME aluminium CMAL3 gained 1.4% to $2,402 a ton, zinc CMZN3 rose 0.7% to $2,659.50, lead CMPB3 was up 1.3% at $1,917, tin CMSN3 climbed 2.0% to $31,175 and nickel CMNI3 jumped 2.1% to $15,085.
For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview RING= COMEX copper futures 0#HG: All metals news MTL All commodities news C
Foreign exchange rates FX=SPEED GUIDES LME/INDEX
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