LONDON- Copper prices jumped to their highest since June 2022 on Friday as investors piled into the market on expectations of a demand upswing on the back of potential cuts to interest rates in the coming months.
Traders said weaker than expected credit data from top consumer China after disappointing trade numbers earlier on Friday did little to temper enthusiasm for buying industrial metals.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 1.2 percent at $9,452 a metric ton. Prices of the metal used in the power and construction industries earlier hit a session high of $9,590.50 a ton.
Signs of economic recovery, particularly in China, have triggered a buying frenzy that also pushed aluminum prices to their highest since February 2023 and zinc to one-year peaks.
“There’s a flood of liquidity coming into metal markets and markets generally … the growth cycle will be quite strong in the next few months,” said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading, adding that Chinese PMI data reinforced optimism over economic growth.
Surveys of purchasing managers in China’s manufacturing sector showed the sector expanding at the fastest pace in 13 months in March, driven by orders from customers at home and abroad.
