HANOI, June 17 (Reuters) - London copper prices fell to their lowest in nearly two months on Thursday, weighed down by strength in the dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve brought forward its outlook for an interest rate hike.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 1.5% to $9,520.50 a tonne by 0518 GMT, having dropped as much as 2.6% earlier in the session to the April 23 low of $9,415.
The most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dipped 0.1% to 68,950 yuan ($10,735.19) a tonne, on track for a fifth straight session of losses.
The dollar rose to its highest level in almost two months versus major peers as the Fed began closing the door on its pandemic-driven monetary policy.
A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced metals more expensive and less appealing to holders of other currencies.
“Due to the sharp increase of Fed officials’ expectations for the future economic outlook, the U.S. dollar has been greatly boosted,” Huatai Futures said in a note.
The Fed signal, coupled with China’s plans to sell state reserves of copper, pressured prices, the company said, recommending a “wait-and-see” approach for investors.
LME nickel dropped 1.5% to $17,390 a tonne, aluminium fell 0.6% to $2,454.50 a tonne, zinc shed 0.7% to $3,004 a tonne and lead declined 0.9% to $2,183.50 a tonne.
ShFE nickel decreased 1.7% to 127,940 yuan a tonne, aluminium edged up 0.2% at 18,770 yuan a tonne while zinc advanced 0.7% to 22,715 yuan a tonne.
FUNDAMENTALS
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$1 = 6.4228 yuan
Reporting by Mai Nguyen; editing by Uttaresh.V, Aditya Soni
Source: Reuters