Copper hits 3-week high after more Chinese cities ease Covid curbs
Industrial metals rose on Monday, with copper scaling a three-week peak as a partial easing of Covid-19 restrictions in top metals consumer China raised hopes for a full reopening of the economy, with a weaker US dollar also lending support.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was up 0.6% at $8 504 a tonne, as of 07:00 GMT. It hit its highest since November 14 at $8 555 during Asian trading.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most-traded January copper contract SCFcv1 ended daytime trade 0.7% higher at 66 260 yuan ($9 529.56) a tonne, after earlier hitting 66 860 yuan, its strongest since Nov. 16.
Amid Beijing's changing narrative on Covid-19's health risks, more cities announced an easing of curbs on Sunday, lifting large-scale lockdowns, reducing regular tests and ending checks for negative results in public spaces.
"The driving force today is the higher expectations for economic recovery in China. With China's reopening seemingly a matter of time, the focus switched to economic development," Marex metals analysts said in a note.
China's restrictive zero-Covid policy has dampened overall demand and industrial activity, and sparked unprecedented protests last month.
A softer dollar also supported LME prices, as it made greenback-priced commodities cheaper for buyers using other currencies. The dollar index =USD was down 0.18% at 104.28, its lowest since June 28, after falling 1.4% last week.
Among other metals, aluminium CMAL3 gained 0.8% to $2,566 a tonne, zinc CMZN3 added 1.3% to $3,120, lead CMPB3 rose 1.4% to $2,232.50 and tin CMSN3 climbed 4.3% to $24,250.
SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was up 0.7% at 19 320 yuan a tonne, nickel SNIcv1 climbed 3% to 207 750 yuan, lead SPBcv1 gained 1.7% to 16 005 yuan, tin SSNcv1 added 3.9% to 194 530 yuan, and zinc SZNcv1 was little changed at 24 520 yuan.
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