MANILA, May 16 (Reuters) - London copper futures struggled
to recover on Wednesday after a two-day slide as the U.S. dollar
hovered near a five-month high versus a basket of major
currencies following a surge in Treasury yields.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was
little changed at $6,812 per tonne by 0156 GMT.
Prices of base metals could stay trapped in narrow ranges,
said INTL FCStone consultant Edward Meir, with the exception of
nickel given falling stockpiles of the metal on the London Metal
Exchange.
"A stronger dollar and trade uncertainties remain prevailing
negatives, but given that all six metals are expected to be in
deficit this year, we do see an element of underlying support
for the group as a whole," Meir wrote in a report.
Also weighing on risk appetite was news that North Korea
cancelled high-level talks with Seoul, denouncing military
exercises between South Korea and the United States, breaking
from several months of easing relations on the peninsula.
SHANGHAI COPPER: The most-traded July copper contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.6 percent to 50,980
yuan ($7,998) a tonne.
DOLLAR: The dollar index against a group of major currencies
rose 0.2 percent to 93.362, not far from Tuesday's peak
of 93.457, its highest since Dec. 22. A firmer greenback makes
dollar-denominated assets more expensive for holders of other
currencies.
SHANGHAI EXCHANGE: The Shanghai Futures Exchange said it
will launch China's first real-time platform for trading
physical commodities from copper to chemicals, as it seeks to
improve transparency and challenge rivals in the global futures
market.
CHINA DATA: China's new home prices rose 0.5 percent in
April from a month earlier, compared with an increase of 0.4
percent in March.
LITHIUM: China's Tianqi Lithium is nearing a
deal to buy a 24 percent stake in Chile's Sociedad Quimica Y
Minera, one of the world's biggest lithium producers,
for about $4.3 billion.
MINING: Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien
Jacques said resource companies needed to build "the United
Nations of the mining industry" to tackle rising resource
nationalism and cost inflation.
U.S.-CHINA TRADE: The United States is seeking to make a
trade deal with China, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow
said as bilateral talks between the world's two economic
powerhouses resume in Washington this week.
ASIAN SHARES: Asian markets fell after Pyongyang called off
talks with Seoul, throwing a major U.S.-North Korean summit into
question, and a spike in the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield to a
seven-year high knocked sentiment on Wall Street.
OTHER METALS: LME zinc gained 0.5 percent to
$3,076.50 a tonne and nickel gave up 0.5 percent to
$14,360. In Shanghai, aluminium rose 0.6 percent to
14,790 yuan per tonne and zinc advanced 0.8 percent to
23,820 yuan.
