London Metal Exchange (LME) copper prices ended little changed in quiet floor trading on Thursday, with tight supply shoring up support but lacking enough interest to challenge $3,600 a tonne, dealers said. Three months copper closed at $3,575, down $11 from Wednesday's kerb close.
"It was a lacklustre day of trading, with the market well supported on dips but there was never enough buying momentum to take prices close enough to challenge $3,600," a dealer said. "The small stock rise this morning probably cooled things a bit despite labour problems in North America." Unionised workers at US copper miner Asarco have been on strike since early July, while copper output there has halved.
On Wednesday employees at world No 3 copper miner Grupo Mexico said they would stage one-day work stoppages in support of strikers at US subsidiary Asarco.
With the funds seen as the main driver the markets are more vulnerable to profit-taking sell-offs," Basemetals.com's William Adams said in a daily report.
"This could be triggered if the dollar starts to regain some strength or if LME stocks surprise on the upside.
"Any pull-back could be quite aggressive given thin market conditions and excessive moves higher lately."
Aluminium ended at $1,882.50 from $1,898, while nickel was at $14,200, down $125.
Lead was at $859/860, down $14, while zinc was at $1,297, unchanged.
Teck Cominco Ltd and striking workers at its zinc and lead smelter in British Columbia will meet again on Thursday in an attempt to kick-start negotiations to end a 16-day strike, a union official said. Tin was at $7,200, down $100.
Comments
Comments are closed.