Dec 10 (Reuters) – London copper prices eased on Friday, as investors turned cautious ahead of key U.S. inflation data that could influence U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate hike path, while renewed worries about the Omicron coronavirus variant also weighed on sentiment.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 inched 0.1% lower to $9,524.5 a tonne, as of 0310 GMT, but was headed for its first weekly gain in four.
The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 fell 0.3% at 69,460 yuan ($10,910.75) a tonne.
Tougher COVID-19 restrictions in England escalated concerns over the impact the new variant could have on economic growth and weighed on appetite for riskier assets. MKTS/GLOB
Prices for the metal were, however, supported by low inventories.
While on-warrant LME inventories MCUSTX-TOTAL rose to 76,250 tonnes, their highest in over two months, they were down 68% from August high of 238,725 tonnes.
Market will pay close attention to the U.S. consumer price index due at 1330 GMT, where a hotter number could build a case for a quicker Fed taper and earlier-than-expected interest rate rises. Copper is often used as a gauge of global economic health and tapering could slow recovery in the world’s biggest economy.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME aluminium CMAL3 was up 0.5% at $2,638.5 a tonne, zinc CMZN3 eased 0.1% to $3,306.5, nickel CMNI3 fell 0.4% to $19,805 a tonne and lead CMPB3 fell 0.4% to $2,276.5 a tonne.
* ShFE aluminium SAFcv1 gained 0.5% to 18,885 yuan a tonne, nickel SNIcv1 shed 1.8% to 145,170 yuan a tonne, and tin SSNcv1 ticked 0.2% higher to 285,100 yuan a tonne.
* China’s Tsingshan Holding Group on Thursday said it had officially started producing nickel matte – an intermediate nickel product that can be further processed into chemicals for electric vehicle (EV) batteries – in Indonesia.
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TOP/MTL or MET/L MARKETS NEWS
* The dollar was firm ahead of U.S. inflation figures, which could settle the course of interest rates, while the Chinese yuan was nursing its sharpest drop in months after a nudge lower from authorities triggered a slide. USD/
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0700 UK GDP Est 3M/3M Oct
0700 UK GDP Estimate MM, YY Oct
0700 UK Manufacturing Output MM Oct
0700 Germany HICP Final YY Nov
1330 US CPI MM, SA Nov
1500 US U Mich Sentiment Prelim Dec
($1 = 6.3662 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
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