Copper Eyes $10,000/T Level as U.S. Dollar Softens

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 1.1% at $9,980 a tonne by 0632 GMT, having risen to as high as $9,999.50 a tonne earlier in the session, only 50 cents off the key $10,000 resistance level last hit in February 2011.

“(Copper is) supported by a weaker dollar and dovish comments from the Federal Reserve,” said commodities broker Anna Stablum of Marex Spectron in a note.

The dollar was pinned near nine-week lows as a doggedly dovish outlook from the Fed and bold spending plans from the White House gave a green light for the global reflation trade.

The most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit 72,960 yuan ($11,273.53) a tonne, its highest since February 2011.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Goldman Sachs forecast copper would average $9,675 a tonne in 2021, $11,875 a tonne in 2022 and $12,000 a tonne in 2023.

* However, Yangshan copper premium fell to $43 a tonne, its lowest since April 2017, indicating weakening demand from top consumer China as prices have leaped 29% this year.

* However, Yangshan copper premium fell to $43 a tonne, its lowest since April 2017, indicating weakening demand from top consumer China as prices have leaped 29% this year.

* ShFE zinc hit its highest since March 2008 of 22,610 yuan a tonne, while LME zinc hit a high level unseen since June 2018 at $2,975.50 a tonne, as bullish sentiment boosted prices of the underperformer of the base metal complex, said a trader.

* ShFE aluminium hit 19,000 yuan a tonne for the first time since February 2010, while LME aluminium climbed to a three-year high of $2,432.50 a tonne on supply cut worries in China to curb emission.

* Global nickel demand is seen rising 11.7% year-on-year to 2.67 million tonnes in 2021, while output is expected to rise 9.2% within the same period to 2.72 million tonnes, the International Nickel Study Group said on Wednesday.