MANILA, July 4 (Reuters) - London copper climbed nearly 1
percent on Wednesday to recover from a nine-month low and other
metals also pulled away from their weakest level in months after
China's central bank assured markets it would keep the yuan
stable.
The Chinese currency slid to 11-month lows on Tuesday with
investors on edge ahead of the July 6 deadline when U.S. tariffs
on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods take effect. Beijing has
said it would retaliate with tariffs on U.S. products.
People's Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said the central
bank was closely watching fluctuations in the foreign exchange
market and would seek to keep the yuan at a stable and
reasonable level.
"The statement puts paid to any fears that the PBoC could be
engineering a depreciation to cushion the economy," Mizuho Bank
said in a note.
ANZ analysts said the yuan's slide has contributed to the
recent weakness in base metals, citing that "the negative
correlation between copper and USD/CNY exchange rate has reached
its highest level since 2012."
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was
up 0.9 percent at $6,548 a tonne by 0233 GMT, versus Tuesday's
low of $6,490, its weakest since October. On the Shanghai
Futures Exchange, the most-traded copper slipped 0.9
percent to 50,850 yuan ($7,670) per tonne.
* OTHER METALS: LME aluminium rose 1.7 percent to
$2,115 a tonne after hitting a three-month low of $2,079.85
overnight. Zinc gained 0.3 percent to $2,797.50, having
touched an 11-month low of $2,778 on Tuesday.
* CHINA SEEKS ALLIES: China is putting pressure on the
European Union to issue a strong joint statement against
President Donald Trump's trade policies at a summit later this
month but is facing resistance, European officials said.
* CHINA DATA: Growth in China's services sector accelerated
in June to a four-month high, buoyed by a pickup in new
businesses and a sustained increase in employment, a private
survey showed.
* GLENCORE: U.S. authorities have demanded Glencore
hand over documents about its business in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Venezuela and Nigeria as part of a corruption
probe, sending the mining company's shares down more than 8
percent.
* FREEPORT: Indonesia has extended the operating permit of
copper miner Freeport McMoRan Inc's local unit, PT Freeport
Indonesia, to July 31, 2018, as discussions over longer term
rights to its Grasberg mine are not complete.
* CURRENCIES: Major currencies marked time while the Chinese
yuan recovered from 11-month lows, after efforts by authorities
the previous day to calm financial markets which had been
rattled by worries about trade wars.
