BEIJING, May 3 (Reuters) - Shanghai metals made a mixed
start to trading on Thursday, although the key copper and
aluminium contracts rose, as the market weighed the likely
outcome of trade talks between the United States and China
getting under way in Beijing.
The world's top two economies have imposed import tariffs on
each other's goods, including on aluminium products, and
threatened more action in a trade dispute that has roiled
markets.
FUNDAMENTALS
* SHFE COPPER: The most-traded June copper contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.1 percent to
51,030 yuan ($8,018.54) a tonne by 0131 GMT, having ended down
on the previous three trading days.
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange was down 0.1 percent to $6,810.50 a tonne,
having closed up 1.1 percent in the previous session, as a firm
dollar weighed on prices.
* ALUMINIUM: London aluminium was down 0.4 percent
to $2,312 a tonne, after closing up 2.7 percent on Wednesday.
On-warrant or available LME aluminium stocks have fallen to
880,350 tonnes, close to the their lowest number since 2007.
Shanghai aluminium rose 0.7 percent on Thursday.
* TRADE: The most likely outcome for tense U.S.-China trade
talks starting on Thursday is an agreement to keep talking, with
U.S. President Donald Trump maintaining his threat to press
ahead with punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, trade experts say.
* TARIFFS: Brazil on Wednesday contradicted a U.S.
announcement that the two countries had reached a deal on a
permanent exemption from steel and aluminium import tariffs,
saying the Trump administration had unilaterally cut off talks.
* RUSAL: The chairman of En+ Group said on
Wednesday he was working on implementing a plan that En+ hopes
will lead to the United States lifting sanctions on the company,
the biggest shareholder in aluminium giant Rusal.
* RUSAL: The London Stock Exchange said on Wednesday it
would no longer suspend trading in En+ GDRs later in the day,
following a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department giving U.S.
investors more time to divest from the sanctioned company.
* COLUMN: A semblance of normality has returned to the
aluminium market after three weeks of turmoil caused by the
imposition of U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska
and his Rusal empire.
