SHANGHAI- London base metals traded in narrow ranges on Wednesday as the US dollar held strong following robust data, and as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach after President-elect Donald Trump denied a report about reduced tariffs plans.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) slipped 0.1 percent to $8,995 per metric ton.
The dollar remained strong after solid US data drove a spike in yields and reduced some expectations on Federal Reserve rate cuts.
The US November JOLTs job openings data, a measure of labor demand, recorded 8.098 million, exceeding market expectations, with the previous value revised upward.
“Trump’s denial of the tariff plan has added uncertainty to the market. The best option is to adopt a wait-and-see strategy until the policies are finalized,” Galaxy Futures said in a note.
Earlier this week, the dollar plummeted following reports that Trump’s team was considering selective tariffs focusing on sectors critical to national or economic security.
However, Trump’s denial of these scaled-back tariff plans on social media triggered a recovery in the greenback.
The dollar index was at $108.57, slightly down from its two-year high of $109.25 touched on Jan.
