BEIJING, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Shanghai base metal prices fell
on Tuesday after a report that the United States is planning
potential tariffs on an additional $257 billion of Chinese
goods.
Prices have been weighed down by tit-for-tat tariffs imposed
by the world's top two economies this year amid concerns the
trade row will hurt demand for industrial metals.
"Falling inventories and rising premiums continue to
indicate the fundamentals remain positive for ... metals," ANZ
wrote in a note. "However, rumours of more U.S. tariffs on
Chinese goods triggered a sell-off."
Any signs of weakening global economic growth from data out
this week "would see commodity markets come under further
pressure", the bank added.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange had slipped 0.2 percent to $6,145 a tonne by
0338 GMT, having ended the previous session flat with support
from tumbling inventories.
* COPPER PREMIUMS: The premium for the cash over the
three-month LME copper contract CMCU0-3 was last at $18.50 a
tonne, having hit a three-year high of $47 a tonne on Friday in
a sign of immediate market tightness.
* SHFE COPPER: The most-traded December copper contract on
the Shanghai Futures Exchange had fallen by 0.2 percent
to 49,780 yuan ($7,144.09) a tonne by the end of the morning
session.
* OTHER METALS: Zinc was hit hardest, dropping as much as
1.6 percent in London to a two-week low of $2,580.5 a
tonne. The metal used to galvanise steel also fell as much as
2.4 percent in Shanghai to 21,675 yuan a tonne, the
weakest since Oct. 9, as China's ferrous complex also moved
lower.
* BHP: The world's biggest miner BHP Billiton
has trimmed its expectations of global growth for next
year and 2020 due to a "lose-lose" result from the U.S.-China
trade conflict, a senior executive said on Tuesday.
