Friday, 20 March 2015 12:50
SYDNEY: Copper eased on Friday after posting the strongest gain in six weeks the session before, with losses capped by supply concerns as a blockade of the Grasberg mine in Indonesia entered its fifth day.
“Copper may have got a little ahead of itself overnight and what we’re seeing is a bit of a pullback,” a trader said. “But supply out of Indonesia is still a factor.
Workers began blocking a road into the Freeport-McMoRan Inc mine on Monday to protest against a settlement reached with other employees at the end of a previous dispute.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange stood at $ 5,833 a tonne at 0410 GMT versus $ 5,850 in the last London close.
The contract rose by 3.2 percent on Thursday, the biggest daily gain since early February.
The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 2 percent to 42,260 yuan ($ 6,829) a tonne.
Traders said indications that the US Federal Reserve was less likely to act aggressively in raising interest rates than anticipated was also boosting sentiment for base metals.
Aluminium was fetching $ 1,784 a tonne, up $ 4, despite signs of oversupply dragging on the market.
Japan’s aluminium premiums for April-June contract shipments were mostly set at $ 380 per tonne, down for the first time in six quarters on higher inventories and slumping spot premiums.
LME nickel slipped $ 30 to $ 13,740 a tonne, though traders said the metal was still finding support from trade data showing a global nickel surplus fell by 70 percent between December and January.
A weaker US dollar was also seen spurring interest in commodities, traders said. A soft greenback makes dollar-denominated assets such as metals cheaper for buyers holding other currencies.
Copyright Reuters, 2015
