Copper prices slipped on both London and Shanghai exchanges on Tuesday, as traders weighed ongoing US-China negotiations and the talks between the world’s top copper producer Chile and the US over the latter’s 50 percent copper tariffs on August 1.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.17 percent at $9,776.5 per metric ton by 0126 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged down 0.08 percent to 78,920 yuan ($10,994.25) a ton.
“The softening in copper prices reflects similar declines in other Chinese futures and is likely to be short-lived, as traders are cautious and closely watching US-China trade talks and developments in US copper import tariffs,” a Shanghai-based analyst at a futures company said.
Top US and Chinese economic officials met in Stockholm and held talks for more than five hours on Monday, seeking to resolve ongoing trade disputes between the world’s top two economies, and to extend a truce by three months.
Elsewhere, Chile, the world’s top copper producer and largest provider of refined copper to the US, expects US copper tariffs to be discussed within broader US trade talks in Washington this week, Finance Minister Mario Marcel said on Monday.
Among other LME metals, aluminium slid 0.1 percent to $2,629 a ton, nickel fell 0.19 percent to $15,240, and zinc lost 0.2 percent to $2,812, while lead gained 0.25 percent to $2,022 and tin climbed 0.14 percent to $33,760.
SHFE nickel fell 0.73 percent to 121,940 yuan a ton, aluminium dipped 0.19 percent to 20,610 yuan, zinc was down 0.31 percent at 22,665 yuan, tin lost 0.54 percent to 267,230 yuan, while lead gained 0.03 percent to 16,945 yuan.
