BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) - London Metal Exchange base
metal prices rose across the board in early Asian trade on
Thursday, buoyed after U.S. President Donald Trump and the
European Union reached an agreement that investors hope will
avert a trade war.
Trump and EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker said after a meeting
in Washington on Wednesday that they would seek to "resolve"
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium and Europe's retaliatory
duties. That marked a step back from Trump's signature import
protections for American metal producers.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME copper: Three-month copper on the LME climbed
as much as 1.4 percent and was 0.7 percent higher at $6,336.50 a
tonne by 0203 GMT, having dipped 0.1 percent in the previous
session.
* SHFE COPPER: The most-traded September copper contract on
the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.1 percent to
50,060 yuan ($7,413.22) a tonne.
* OTHER METALS: London aluminium and lead
both made gains of around 1 percent, while zinc was up
0.8 percent, nickel added 0.4 percent and tin
climbed 0.5 percent.
* TARIFFS: In what EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker called a
"major concession", U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to
refrain from imposing car tariffs while the two sides launch
negotiations to cut other trade barriers, easing the threat of a
transatlantic trade war.
* DOLLAR: The dollar index fell by 0.2 percent to
94.152 following the EU-U.S. summit, making dollar-denominated
metals cheaper for holders of other currencies.
* FREEPORT: Freeport-McMoRan Inc, the world's
largest publicly listed copper miner, reported
bigger-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, as production and
prices soared above last year, but flagged market jitters from
global trade disputes.
* INDONESIA: Indonesia's parliament has asked the government
to recalculate damage to the environment from the giant Grasberg
copper mine operated by the local unit of Freeport McMoRan Inc,
the environment ministry said.
