The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed 0.58 percent higher at 53,820 yuan ($8,118.26) a tonne. ShFE nickel and zinc saw the greatest advances among Chinese metals futures, up 2.8 percent and 1.8 percent respectively in step with firmer domestic steel prices. The world's biggest copper miner, Codelco [RIC:RIC:COBRE.UL], has raised its 2018 physical copper premium to European buyers to $88 a tonne from the $80 to $85 a tonne range this year, copper industry sources said.
Glencore cut its output forecast for core commodities including zinc, but raised its marketing division's full-year earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to between $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion, reflecting higher raw materials prices. Factories in China's industrial heartland making everything from steel sheet to tofu and ceramics are struggling with soaring costs or facing closure as they wait for authorities to approve new gas-powered boilers, five industry executives told Reuters.