Copper Extends Gains on Hopes For Rate Cuts, China Revival

LONDON: Copper prices extended gains to a fresh five-week peak on Friday on hopes that U.S. jobs data will provide scope for interest rate cuts and demand will recover in top metals consumer China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.3% at $8,664 per metric ton by 1120 GMT after touching $8,689, the strongest since Jan. 31.

LME copper has gained nearly 2% on a weekly basis.

“The question is whether copper just like gold can spring a surprise to the upside. The jobs report this afternoon could be a trigger if we get a tad of weakness in that number,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.

“In the copper market, speculative interest has been ebbing and flowing not far from neutral for quite a while simply because the market has been rangebound,” Hansen said.

Gold has rallied to a series of record highs this week, driven by speculative activity.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls are expected to have gained 200,000 in February, slowing after two straight months of robust gains. The data is due to be released at 1330 GMT.

Copper and other industrial metals also got a fillip from wider bullish sentiment that propelled global stocks to hit record highs as investors bet on transatlantic interest rate cuts starting within months.

The dollar headed for its sharpest weekly drop of the year, making greenback-priced metals cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

LME tin rose 0.4% to $27,720 a ton, the strongest since last August and up 4.7% on a weekly basis, after Indonesia’s refined tin exports dropped 98% on a yearly basis in February.

LME nickel advanced 0.9% to a four-month high of $18,140 and zinc climbed 0.7% to a five-week high of $2,552, both set for the fourth straight week of gains.

Nickel mining quota delays in Indonesia and an output cut at a zinc smelter in South Korea has caused supply uncertainty.

LME lead jumped 1.5% to a one-month peak of $2,139 a ton while aluminium rose 0.4% to $2,262.