BEIJING, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Shanghai aluminium prices
dropped for a fourth session on Friday and were on course for
their steepest monthly drop since March after China decided not
to impose blanket cuts on industrial output in 28 northern
cities this winter.
The production cuts are to be determined by local
authorities and the market expects less restrictions on
aluminium supply.
The London base complex was broadly higher, however, with
copper adding 0.4 percent amid thin trade before China shuts
down for a week-long holiday.
"If you look at the regional macro cues they are all higher.
Ahead of the holidays maybe people don’t want to be short," said
Matt France, head of Asia institutional metal sales at Marex
Spectron in Singapore.
"It’s just a general drift higher so far as we head into the
last SHFE trading session before Golden Week."
FUNDAMENTALS
* ALUMINIUM: Shanghai aluminium fell as much as 1.5
percent to 14,275 yuan ($2,073.02) a tonne, the lowest since
July 23 and stood at 14,335 yuan at the mid-session interval.
The metal is headed for a 4.1 percent drop in Shanghai in
September. London Metal Exchange aluminium was flat at
$2,029.50 a tonne.
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange was up 0.4 percent to $6,214.50 a tonne, as of
0345 GMT, snapping four straight sessions of declines.
Copper has fallen 2.4 percent this week, putting it on
course for its steepest weekly fall in six, although it is also
heading for a 4 percent gain over September, which would be its
best month since December 2017.
* SHFE COPPER: The most-traded November copper contract on
the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.5 percent to
50,140 yuan a tonne.
* GRASBERG: Global mining giants Freeport McMoRan Inc
and Rio Tinto have struck a binding accord to
sell a majority stake in the world's second-biggest copper mine,
Grasberg, to Indonesia's state mining company, Inalum for $3.85
billion.
