London copper rises 2% on stronger risk appetite, supply concerns

London copper prices jumped more than 2% on Thursday, boosted by improved risk sentiment after the US Federal Reserve struck an upbeat tone on economic recovery, while a halt to production at a major mine in Peru exacerbated supply concerns.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 2% at $9,385 a tonne, as of 0330 GMT.

In the previous session, the metal hit a low since Oct. 7 at $9,135.

The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange inched down 0.1% to 68,590 yuan ($10,771.04) a tonne.

The US central bank said it would end its bond purchases in March and pave the way for three quarter-percentage-point interest rate hikes by the end of 2022 as the economy nears full employment and the central bank copes with a surge of inflation.

Meanwhile, on-warrant LME inventories fell to 80,720 tonnes, with LME cash copper on the three-month contract switching back to a premium of $15 a tonne.

MMG Ltd said on Thursday it would shut production at its Las Bambas copper mine in Peru from Dec. 18 after the miner failed to reach an agreement with the Peruvian community blocking a transport road used by the facility.

Fundamentals

• LME aluminium rose 1.3% to $2,629.5 a tonne, zinc climbed 1.5% to $3,319 a tonne, nickel rose 1.2 to $19,335 a tonne and lead was up 0.6% at $2,298 a tonne.

  • ShFE aluminium gained 0.7% to 19,245 yuan a tonne, nickel edged up 0.2% to 142,710 yuan a tonne, lead slipped 0.6% to 15,355 yuan a tonne and tin was 0.1% higher at 283,610 yuan a tonne.

• China's finance ministry said on Wednesday it would raise the export tax on blister copper in 2022. A table published by the ministry showed the export duty on unrefined copper and copper anodes for electrolytic refining would double to 30% next year. China's exports of this category totalled just 122 tonnes in the first 10 months of this year, however.

• Regulators in Shanghai, including local branches of the People's Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, held meetings with some real estate firms on Wednesday and on Dec. 9 offering to help the embattled industry, local media reported.