Copper steadied on Tuesday after encouraging US consumer confidence and retail sales eased immediate worries about the outlook for the world's largest economy, but persistent fears about Europe's debt crisis prevented further gains. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $7,490 a tonne versus a last bid of $7,495 on Monday.
"The market is realising that the outlook for the US is looking better in the short-term. The Black Friday sales were quite good," said Gianclaudio Torlizzi from metals consultancy T-Commodity. "There was some optimism (EU leaders) would come up with something ahead of the EU Summit December 9, even though we know these measures won't be heavy artillery - it won't include ECB becoming a lender of last resort or a Eurobond," analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov of VTB Capital said.
Copper has lost almost 7 percent in November, and is trading more than 22 percent lower in the year to date. Copper's supply pipeline has been pressured by bad weather and industrial action this year, with a soon-to-end strike at Freeport-McMoRan's Peruvian copper mine Cerro Verde replaced by new industrial action in Chile.
Workers at Cerro Verde have decided to lift their nearly two-month-old strike and will return to their jobs on Wednesday, union leader Leoncio Amudio said on Monday. But Chile's giant Collahuasi mine on Monday confirmed workers on two shifts have downed tools at the world's No 3 copper mine, adding its plants were fully operational, suggesting output was not affected.
"Workers at Freeport's Cerro Verde mine have agreed to go back to work following a 61-day strike, it will be interesting to see if support for the copper price is slowly eroded," said Standard bank in a note. A strike at Freeport's Indonesian mine Grasberg, the world's No 2 copper mine has run into a third month, helping to curb exports of copper concentrate from the country, which fell by 35 percent on the year in October.
Tin underperformed other metals, ending at $20,550 a tonne, down from $20,850 on Monday's close. Indonesian tin smelters will ship a total of 800 tonnes of tin to Singapore this week, breaking the industry's self-imposed ban on shipments from the world's top exporter, an official of the country's tin association said.
"The moratorium has not being revoked. However, because PT Koba Tin broke the agreement, other companies also are breaking the agreement," ITA's secretary general Johan Murod told Reuters. Zinc, used in galvanising, closed at $1,958 a tonne from $1,957 on Monday, while nickel slipped to $17,050 from $17,180. Battery material lead ended at $2,031 from $2,025 and aluminium closed at $2,000 from $2,026.
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