SINGAPORE/BEIJING, Feb 25 (Reuters) - London copper prices
raced past $6,500 a tonne for the first time since July on
Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would delay an
increase in tariffs on Chinese goods, while tin touched a
10-month peak after an accident-hit Chinese miner stopped
production.
Citing "substantial progress" in trade talks over the
weekend, Trump said he would delay the planned tariff hike on
March 1 and would plan a summit with Chinese President Xi
Jinping 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 up 0.6 percent at $6,513.50 a tonne as of
0717 GMT, having earlier touched $6,516.50 a tonne, the highest
since July 4. The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai
Futures Exchange rose as much as 1.8 percent to its
highest since Dec. 3 before closing up 1.6 percent at 50,520
yuan ($7,551.34) a tonne.
* PERU: Chinese miner MMG Ltd said 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.
* COPPER STOCKS: On-warrant LME copper inventories
MCUSTX-TOTAL slumped by nearly half to 39,800 tonnes in one
day, the lowest since August 2005, LME data showed on Friday.
* TIN: LME tin rose as much as 0.9 percent to
$21,695 a tonne, its highest since April 20, after a unit of
Inner Mongolia Xingye Mining halted production
following an accident at a mine on Saturday that killed 21
people. The unit produces tin, silver and copper, a statement
said, while state-run news agency Xinhua said the mine also
produced lead and zinc.
* OTHER METALS: In a broad rally, all Shanghai base metals
added more than 1 percent, with nickel hitting its
highest since Oct. 24 and aluminium touching its
highest since Dec. 27.
