BEIJING: London copper slid on Friday, as fears over another interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve in November offset a solid demand outlook.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.8% to $7,503.50 a tonne by 0458 GMT, reversing gains from Thursday.
Overnight US data showing a persistently tight labour market, and hawkish comments from Fed officials bolstered concerns about the Fed hiking rates and potentially tilting the economy into a recession.
The Fed is not done raising its short-term rate target as high inflation persists, Fed Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said.
With the economic sector absorbing the hardest hit from the aggressive rate hikes, existing US homes sales slid for an eighth straight month in September and will likely fall further.
“Again, fears of interest rate rises dampened risk appetite,” a China-based futures trader said.
“But the tight supply and solid demand could prevent it from any sharp fall.”
The global copper market is expected to see a deficit of about 325,000 tonnes this year and a surplus of 155,000 tonnes in 2023, the International Copper Study Group said on Wednesday.
Copper falls on firm dollar, rate hike worries
Freeport-McMoRan executives gave a bullish demand outlook of copper due to its use in renewable energy products and said none of its customers have scaled back orders.
The most-traded November copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.8% to 63,260 yuan ($8,733.59) a tonne.
SHFE aluminium gained 1.5% to 18,685 yuan a tonne, zinc was up 0.5% to 25,240 yuan a tonne, while tin fell 1.8% to 165,580 yuan a tonne and nickel lost 2.5% to 181,750 yuan a tonne.
LME aluminium climbed 0.5% to $2,220 a tonne, while lead lost 1.4% to $1,950.50 a tonne.
Zinc was down 0.2% at $2,958 a tonne. For the top stories in metals and other news, click or
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