By Eileen Soreng
Dec 22 (Reuters) – London copper prices hit a near two-week high on Wednesday bolstered by concerns over tight supply and renewed risk appetite despite looming uncertainty from surging COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 rose 0.3% to $9,566.5 a tonne, as of 0700 GMT, after having touched $9,578 earlier in the session, which was the highest since Dec. 10.
The most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 closed up 1% at 69,690 yuan ($10,938.11) a tonne.
“The market appears to be looking through any near-term impact on demand, to an eventual recovery,” CRU analyst Craig Lang said.
“The market is more focused on the multi-year low visible stocks, as well as the green energy driven demand outlook and supply risks in Peru,” Lang added.
On-warrant copper stocks in LME-registered warehouses MCUSTX-TOTAL were at 81,425 tonnes, up from a historic low of 14,150 tonnes hit in October, but far below recent peaks.
Stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) warehouses CU-STX-SGH were at 34,580 tonnes, the lowest since 2009, while inventories in Chinese bonded warehouses SMM-CUR-BON have plunged to a record low of 160,500 tonnes.
Meanwhile, the dollar index =USD crawled up 0.1%, capping further gains in copper, which is often seen as a gauge of global economic health.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME aluminium CMAL3 hit a peak since Oct. 27 at $2,802 a tonne, and was last up 1.5% at $2,794.5.
* “The worries of the coal shortages are now history, and although there are some restrictions due to bad weather and pollution alerts, those are hitting alumina and other parts of the supply chain,” Paul Adkins, managing director of aluminium consultancy AZ China, said in a note, adding that plant capacity was slowly restarting.
* LME nickel CMNI3 rose 0.5% to $19,710 a tonne, lead CMPB3 was up 0.3% at $2,303 a tonne and zinc CMZN3 gained 0.7% to $3,450 a tonne.
* ShFE aluminium SAFcv1 climbed 2.6% to 20,045 yuan a tonne, nickel SNIcv1 rose 1.9% to 145,820 yuan a tonne, zinc SZNcv1 was up 1.9% at 23,900 yuan a tonne, lead SPBcv1 fell 0.3% to 15,480 yuan a tonne and tin SSNcv1 gained 0.8% to 286,500 yuan a tonne.
* Peruvian Prime Minister Mirtha Vasquez strongly urged communities blocking a road used by MMG Ltd’s 1208.HK Las Bambas copper mine to clear the route by midday on Wednesday, saying the blockade had created major problems for the country.
* China has the confidence, condition, and ability to keep economic growth at a reasonable level, a senior state planning official told the Xinhua News Agency.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or MET/L
($1 = 6.3713 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Shounak Dasgupta)
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