Updates prices, adds SHFE stocks
BEIJING, June 7 (Reuters) –London copper prices slidon Friday after mixed China trade data, while investors awaited a key U.S. jobs report later in the day for cues on when theFederal Reserve will cutinterest rates.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was down 0.9% at $10,060.50 per metric ton by 0732 GMT. It was trading almost flat for the week.
The most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 rose 0.8% to 81,530 yuan ($11,256.70) a ton.
China’s trade data on Friday showed better-than-expected exports in May, suggesting factory owners are managing to find buyers overseas. However, imports increased at a slower pace.
Meanwhile, unwrought copper imports last month came in higher than expected, adding to concerns that inventories in China would rise further.
Deliverable copper stocks in SHFE warehouses climbed to 336,964 tons on Friday, an over four-year high.
Also weighing on the market was demand in China, which had been hit by a recent surge in prices.
Copper prices surged to record highs of above $11,000 in late May, partly due to funds betting on the metal’s use in the green energy sectors and a potential shortage.
Regardless, expectations of a Fed rate cut in September rose after data this week hinted that the U.S. labour market was cooling. The U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, due later in the day, is expected to showjob growth likely maintained its moderate pace in May and wage gains held steady.
LME aluminium CMAL3 slid 0.4%to $2,636 a ton, nickel CMNI3 dipped 0.2%to $18,500,zinc CMZN3 added 0.3%to $2,918, tin CMSN3 was up 1.4%at $32,645, and lead CMPB3 shed 0.4% to $2,233.
SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was little changed at 21,220yuan a ton, lead SPBcv1 moved 0.3% lowerto 18,870yuan, tin SSNcv1 increased 2.5%to 267,580yuan, zinc SZNcv1 climbed 0.7%to 24,165yuan and nickel SNIcv1 gained 0.6%to 142,770yuan.
For the top stories in metals and other news, click
TOP/MTL or MET/L
($1 = 7.2428 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Siyi Liu and Colleen Howe; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Savio D’Souza and Eileen Soreng
For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview RING= COMEX copper futures 0#HG: All metals news MTL All commodities news C
Foreign exchange rates FX=SPEED GUIDES LME/INDEX