SINGAPORE/BEIJING, Feb 25 (Reuters) - London copper prices
touched their highest since July on Monday after U.S. President
Donald Trump said he would delay an increase in tariffs on
Chinese goods scheduled for March 1.
Citing "substantial progress" in trade talks over the
weekend, Trump also said he would plan a summit with Chinese
President Xi Jinping at his estate in Florida to conclude an
agreement, assuming both sides make more progress.
Shanghai copper rose for a seventh day in eight but broker
Jinrui Futures cautioned that while there were expectations of
improved demand after the end of the off-season, current
fundamentals did not provide strong support to prices.
Import premiums for physical copper in China SMM-CUYP-CN
slipped to as low as $52 a tonne on Friday, the lowest since May
2017.
"The key to a sustained market rally is a recovery in
demand," Jinrui Futures added.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange was flat at $6,477 a tonne as of 0351 GMT,
having earlier climbed as much as 0.5 percent to $6,508 a tonne,
the highest since July 4. The most-traded copper contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 1.6 percent
to its highest since Dec. 4 and stood at 50,240 yuan
($7,512.75) a tonne by the end of the morning.
* COPPER STOCKS: On-warrant LME copper inventories
MCUSTX-TOTAL, those not earmarked for delivery, slumped by
nearly half to 39,800 tonnes in one day, the lowest since August
2005, LME data showed on Friday.
* CHILE: Mines Minister Baldo Prokurica on Friday maintained
the government's 2019 copper price prediction of $3.05 per
pound, amid optimism about U.S.-China trade talks underway in
Washington.
* PERU: Chinese miner MMG Ltd said on Monday it
will have to delay some shipments of copper concentrate from
Matarani Port due to a blockade by an indigenous community of a
road used to transport copper from the Las Bambas mine.
* OTHER METALS: Most Shanghai base metals climbed more than
1 percent, with nickel hitting its highest since Oct.
24 and tin jumping as much as 2.2 percent, the most
since May 30. ShFE aluminium was up 0.6 percent after
touching its highest since Dec. 27. In London, tin rose
to its highest since April, while zinc and lead
lost ground.
