Copper prices shrugged off a stronger dollar on Friday to end the week higher, buoyed by expectations that supply disruptions could tighten the market. The metal used in power and construction touched $5,981.50 on Thursday, its strongest since November 28 on the potential for reduced output from a possible labour strike in Chile and a Freeport-McMoRan, mine in Indonesia.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange closed 0.7 percent up at $5,900 a tonne, ending the week 2.4 percent higher. "What has been materialising more recently is the issue of supply disruptions in Indonesia and Chile. If we have supply disruptions for both of these mines this would lend some fundamental support to copper prices," said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.
On the demand side, copper is up 15 percent since President Donald Trump won US elections in November with promises of economic growth, tax cuts and infrastructure build. But Menke said the price of copper could fall because US infrastructure is not significantly copper-intensive.
The dollar hit a one-week high on Friday on expectations that Trump would deliver on his economic growth, making metals priced in the greenback more expensive for holders of other currencies. Freeport-McMoRan, the world's biggest listed copper miner, warned this week it would need to start slashing output at its Indonesia mine to about 40 percent of capacity if it fails to get a government export permit.
At BHP Billiton-run Escondida in Chile, the world's biggest copper mine, unionised workers on Tuesday rejected the firm's latest wage offer and asked workers to vote for a strike and prepare for an extended conflict. Aluminium ended 0.2 percent lower at $1,816 a tonne, having touched a 20-month peak of $1,883 on Tuesday on reports of potential capacity cuts in China.
Lead slipped 1.8 percent to $2,288 a tonne, tin lost 0.2 percent to $19,935 per tonne while zinc was bid down 0.2 percent at $2,768 a tonne. Nickel added 0.7 percent to $9,475 per tonne in after touching its lowest since June 30 in the previous session.