METALS-London copper rises on softer dollar, but heads for weekly drop
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ScrapPrices
Published on January 25,2019 07:00 AM Metal Exchange
London copper edged higher on Friday as support from a weaker dollar saw the metal claw back the previous session's losses, although uncertainty over the progress in U.S.-China trade talks capped the upside.
METALS-London copper rises on softer dollar, but heads for weekly drop

BEIJING, Jan 25 (Reuters)- London copper edged higher on Friday as support from a weaker dollar saw the metal claw back the previous session's losses, although uncertainty over the progress in U.S.-China trade talks capped the upside.

Copper remained on course to shed 1.6 percent this week on fears China's slowing economy will hurt demand. That would mark its steepest weekly drop since the week ended Dec. 21. On the supply side, Freeport McMoRan Inc, the world's second-largest copper miner, forecast on Thursday a drop in 2019 production.

An Indonesian official said earlier this month that Freeport's Grasberg mine would produce around 1.2 million tonnes of copper concentrate this year, compared to 2.1 million tonnes in 2018, as operations move from open pit to underground mining.

Grasberg's output is expected to double between 2019 and 2021, Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson said. "As long as global GDP growth exceeds 1 percent this year and 2 percent (per year) on average thereafter, the market should go into a meaningful deficit with rising prices," Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina wrote in a note.

FUNDAMENTALS 

LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.5 percent at $5,951 a tonne as of 0749 GMT, with traders also pointing to short-covering ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays in China next month. The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended flat at 47,380 yuan ($7,006.60) a tonne.

TRADE: The United States and China are a long way from resolving trade issues but there is a fair chance the two countries will get to a trade deal, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday.

SCRAP: China's imports of scrap copper from the United States rose in December from the previous month, customs data showed, snapping six straight months of declines.

ANGLO: Anglo American said its copper output had reached a five-year high and its overall output for the last quarter of 2018 had risen 7 percent following operational changes that boosted efficiency.

NICKEL: The metal used to make stainless steel closed up 1 percent in Shanghai and added 0.3 percent in London , where other metals were also marginally higher. * For the top stories in metals and other news, click or

MARKETS NEWS: Asian stocks rallied to a seven-week high, buoyed by gains in U.S. technology firms as pockets of strength in corporate earnings eased some of the anxiety over a slowing global economy.

PRICES

 BASE METALS PRICES                       0755 GMT
 Three month LME copper                       5952
 Most active ShFE copper                     47350
 Three month LME aluminium                  1891.5
 Most active ShFE aluminium                  13520
 Three month LME zinc                         2642
 Most active ShFE zinc                       21525
 Three month LME lead                         2074
 Most active ShFE lead                       17655
 Three month LME nickel                      11810
 Most active ShFE nickel                     94850
 Three month LME tin                         20935
 Most active ShFE tin                       148950
                                                  
 BASE METALS ARBITRAGE                            
 LME/SHFE COPPER              LMESHFCUc3    651.06
 LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM           LMESHFALc3  -1302.95
                                          
 LME/SHFE ZINC                LMESHFZNc3    220.28
 LME/SHFE LEAD                LMESHFPBc3     734.5
 LME/SHFE NICKEL              LMESHFNIc3   1816.81
                                          
 ($1 = 6.7622 Chinese yuan)
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