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- LME Aluminum 3M Select trades $1.75 higher to $3239.50 at 8:43:26 AM
- LME Copper 3M Select trades $43.25 higher to $14259 at 8:43:26 AM
- (Bloomberg) – Copper inched higher as a large order to withdraw inventory from London Metal Exchange warehouses stoked fresh supply concerns following a major squeeze last week. Three-month prices rose as much as 0.5% on the exchange following the request to withdraw more than 50,000 tons of copper from LME warehouses, after closing at a record level above $14,200 a ton on Friday. LME inventory levels have become a key focal point in the copper industry over recent weeks, with spot prices spiking above futures early last week as buyers competed for dwindling volumes of metal in the exchange’s warehousing network. Traders capitalized on the surge in prices by making huge deliveries, but Monday’s request to withdraw additional metal takes readily available inventories back toward critically low levels. Copper has gained nearly 15% this year in a rally driven in large part by traders shifting hundreds of thousands of tons to America in anticipation of the Trump administration rolling out import tariffs. Futures in the US have traded at large premiums to those on the LME, as the market awaits a decision from the White House on whether to push ahead with the levies. Last week’s spike in spot prices created an incentive for traders to deliver metal into LME warehouses, but later-dated contracts continue to trade at large premiums on Comex. That creates ongoing opportunities for traders to withdraw stocks from the LME and deliver them into the US market. Beyond the ructions caused by President Donald Trump’s trade agenda, the surge in prices has spurred some caution among buyers in China, where import premiums have edged lower this month. Shanghai Futures Exchange inventories also rose last week by their most since March, climbing from relatively modest levels. “It’s difficult to see a significant increase in demand after these price gains,” Chaos Ternary Futures Co. said in a note. The return of the so-called debasement trade also helped base metals at the tail end of last week by weakening the dollar, which makes commodities cheaper for buyers in other currencies. The Bloomberg Spot Dollar Index rose 0.1% on Monday, after shedding 0.8% last week.
- CME HRC Steel last traded at $1196 and $2 higher at 9:25:40 PM
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