Updates prices, adds comments
Dec 29 (Reuters) – Most base metals fell on Wednesday with investors booking profits from recent rallies as 2021 draws to a close, but copper prices in London jumped to a one-month high on arbitrage trades.
Three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange, which was closed on Monday and Tuesday for public holidays, was up 0.9% at $9,653 a tonne by 0451 GMT. It touched $9,706 earlier in the session, highest since Nov. 26.
The most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1, however, ended the morning trade 0.7% lower at 69,870 yuan ($10,966.36) a tonne, after scaling a one-month high on Tuesday.
“COMEX versus LME arbs is firmer after the break, helping to support the LME flat price higher, and this could be credited to firmer U.S. equities price levels,” a Singapore-based trader said.
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Tuesday, but S&P 500 hit a record intraday high earlier in the session on easing worries over the impact of the rapidly spreading Omicron coronavirus variant on the global economic recovery.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Metals traded on the Shanghai exchange are expected to decline from this year’s highs, but will still find demand support from top metals consumers China and remain above pre-COVID-19 levels.
* China’s top copper smelters kept floor treatment and refining charges for copper concentrate in the first quarter of 2022 flat from the previous quarter, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
* LME zinc CMZN3, which hit a two-month high on Dec. 23, fell 1.7% to $3,460 a tonne by 0439 GMT, extending losses to a third session. Shanghai zinc SZNcv1 slipped 0.6% to 23,890 yuan a tonne.
* LME aluminium CMAL3 fell 1.5% to $2,796 a tonne, retreating from a two-month high on Dec. 24. Shanghai aluminium rose 0.3% to 19,815 yuan a tonne.
* LME nickel CMNI3 dropped 0.4% to $19,965 a tonne, while Shanghai nickel SNIcv1 lost 0.9% to 147,310 yuan a tonne.
* LME lead CMPB3 shed 0.5% to $15,355 a tonne but Shanghai lead SPBcv1 gained 0.2% to $2,283 a tonne.
* LME tin CMSN3 slipped 0.3% to $39,150 a tonne, while Shanghai tin SSNcv1 was virtually flat at 289,430 yuan a tonne.
($1 = 6.3713 yuan)
(Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
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