LONDON: Copper prices fell on Wednesday with a stronger dollar while traders braced for a neck-to-neck US presidential election, due on Nov. 5, and awaited top metals consumer China to consider rolling out further stimulus measures.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) eased 0.3% to $9,500 per metric ton in official open-outcry trading. The US currency rose, making dollar-priced metals more expensive for buyers using other currencies, after stronger-than-expected private sector jobs data.
“Clearly the US election is the main thing on the radar, and nobody wants to take large positions ahead of it,” said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.
Copper, used in power and construction, is down 3% so far this month, sliding from a 3-1/2-month high of $10,158 a ton hit in late September when China pledged stimulus to boost the economy.
“We are still in the camp where people are optimistic about China, and with the recent copper price fall the algo models we run started giving a buy signal, meaning that the market was oversold,” Smith said, referring to algorithmic computer models that place buy and sell orders largely on momentum signals. On the technical front, copper is supported by the 50-day moving average at $9,499.
LME aluminium eased 0.2% to $2,653 a ton in official activity, zinc added 0.1% to $3,125, lead rose 0.7% to $2,018, tin lost 0.1% to $31,040 and nickel increased 0.4% to $15,930.
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