Copper prices rose to two-month highs on Tuesday, buoyed by supply concerns in Peru and Panama amid protests and planned maintenance, while a weaker US dollar also lent support.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.3 percent to $8,459 per metric ton, having leaped to $8,459 earlier in the session, the highest since Sept. 15.
The most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced 1 percent to 68,550 yuan ($9,506.18) a ton, the highest since Sept. 21.
Workers at Las Bambas copper mine in Peru will kick off an “indefinite” strike from next week, and First Quantum Minerals will carry out maintenance at its Cobre Panama mine from Nov. 23 due to coal supplies being blocked by protesters.
The dollar index hit its lowest since Sept. 1 on expectation that US interest rates would fall next year, making greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.
LME aluminum rose 0.5 percent to $2,256 a ton, nickel edged up 0.3 percent at $17,000, zinc advanced 1 percent to $2,588, lead was up 0.5 percent at $2,286.50 and tin increased 0.8 percent to $25,070.
SHFE aluminum increased 0.5 percent to 19,030 yuan a ton, zinc was up 0.7 percent at 21,520 yuan, while lead fell 0.7 percent to 16,990 yuan and tin shed 0.4 percent to 209,220 yuan.
