MELBOURNE, July 23 (Reuters) - London copper was steady on
Monday, holding above a one-year low hit last week, as concerns
simmered that mounting trade tariff spats could dent demand,
while a weaker dollar cushioned losses.
Fears of a demand hit from the imposition of tariffs on the
automotive sector caused copper and aluminium to soften, while
lead and zinc were also heavily sold on expectations of rising
supply, Morgan Stanley said in a report.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper traded
little changed at $6,154 a tonne, as of 0757 GMT. Last week,
prices fell for a sixth week in a row, hitting their lowest in a
year at $5,988 on Thursday.
* SHANGHAI COPPER: Shanghai Futures Exchange copper
revived by 1.4 percent to 49,020 yuan ($7,235) a tonne.
* TARIFFS: U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was
ready to impose tariffs on all $500 billion of imported goods
from China, threatening to escalate a clash over trade policy
that has unnerved financial markets.
* ANTI-DUMPING PROBE: China on Monday launched an
anti-dumping probe into stainless steel imports worth $1.3
billion, including from a privately owned Chinese mill with
operations offshore, after complaints that a flood of product
has damaged the local industry.
* GLOBAL ECONOMY: The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
warned world economic leaders on Saturday that a recent wave of
trade tariffs would significantly harm global growth, a day
after Trump threatened a major escalation in a dispute with
China.
* ZINC: LME zinc surged as shorts were forced to
cover and due to a shortfall of available immediate supply. LME
data showed a large short holding in the futures report, while
lending guidance is enforced with a single holder of more than
half LME metal. <0#LME-FBR> <0#LME-WHL>
* STRIKES: Labour negotiations at Chile's Escondida copper
mine, the world's largest, are frozen without signs of progress
toward an agreement just over a week before the current contract
expires.
* COPPER DEFICIT: The global world refined copper market
showed a 98,000 tonnes deficit in April, compared with a surplus
in March, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said.
* SCRAP: China June scrap copper imports dropped 39.8 pct
year-on-year to 200,000 tonnes China's customs data showed.
* ALUMINIUM: The U.S. Treasury is open to removing Russian
aluminium producer Rusal from a U.S. sanctions list, Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday, adding the objective
was "not to put Rusal out of business."
* SPECULATORS: Short holdings in Comex copper surged in the
latest week, data from the U.S. regulator showed.
