London Metal Exchange copper responded positively to tax news from China and a change in Japan's rate strategy on Thursday to end almost 2 percent higher, traders said.
China's Ministry of Finance said it would raise the export tax on refined copper, copper alloy and copper products to 10 percent from April 5.
Refined copper and copper alloy are currently taxed at 5 percent, while copper products are untaxed.
"The Chinese export tax may not be that positive in reality, but the market took it as a bullish factor," a London dealer said.
The Japanese central bank said it would keep short-term interest rates around zero for now, reflecting concerns about fallout for world markets.
Metals had been under pressure from uncertainty about what the Japanese central bank would announce on Thursday, and news that it would keep short-term interest rates around zero for now was greeted with relief.
"Once that news was out (investors) decided to buy back positions. There may have been some relief that there wasn't an interest rate rise," the dealer said.
Copper ended kerb trading at $4,810 a tonne, up $90 from Wednesday's kerb.
Other markets responded similarly to the Bank of Japan's announcement. US stocks futures rose on the news and most other metals followed copper.
Aluminium ended the kerb up $34 at $2,374 and zinc was up $7 at $2,232.
Nickel was at $14,800, up $100, and tin was untraded, offered at $7,800 compared with $7,700 at Wednesday's close. Lead was down $15 at $1,165.
Comments
Comments are closed.