By Mai Nguyen
Nov 18 (Reuters) – London copper prices fell on Thursday to their lowest in more than a month, weighed down by rising inventories, a firm dollar and risk-off sentiment.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was down 0.6% at $9,354.50 a tonne, as of 0554 GMT, after falling as much as 0.7% earlier in the session to $9,337, its lowest since Oct. 11.
The most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 declined 1.8% to 68,940 yuan ($10,811.74) a tonne.
“Demand pressure is building up not only in China’s property and construction sectors, but also in manufacturing,” said ANZ analyst Soni Kumari.
“However, we see supply tightness sustaining in the short-term. This could provide another chance for prices to hit $10,000 a tonne in early 2022. We start seeing the impact of tapering and rate hikes on metal prices from Q2 2022.”
The dollar eased but hovered just below a 16-month peak as rising inflation supported expectations of U.S. rate hikes around the middle of next year.
On-warrant LME inventories MCUSTX-TOTAL rose to 62,100 tonnes, their highest since Oct. 11. This helped the premium for LME cash copper over the three-month contract MCU0-3 ease to $14.90 a tonne, a significant drop from the record $1,103.50 seen last month.
Most recent copper deliveries were to LME warehouses in the United States.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Money managers’ net long positioning on COMEX copper 3085692MNET fell to 24,339 contracts, as of Nov. 9, latest exchange data showed, the lowest since Sept. 21. The drop came as money managers boosted short positions 3085692MSHT to 37,136, the highest since Aug. 24.
* LME cash aluminium over the three-month contract MAL0-3 rose to $10.70 a tonne, its highest since Aug. 31, indicating tightening nearby supplies.
* LME aluminium CMAL3 fell 0.4% to $2,606 a tonne, zinc CMZN3 declined 0.8% to $3,167 a tonne, ShFE zinc SZNcv1 dropped 1.5% to 22,505 yuan a tonne, while ShFE tin SSNcv1 rose 0.7% to 284,310 yuan a tonne.
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($1 = 6.3764 yuan)
(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Subhranshu Sahu)
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