Prices of base metals broadly rose on Monday as positive signals from Washington over the weekend rekindled optimism that the United States and China could soon sign a deal to end their bitter trade spat. A senior U.S. official said an initial trade agreement is still possible by the end of the year, after Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump both underscored their desire on Friday to sign a deal. The prolonged trade war between the world’s leading economies have been weighing on base metals, so a resolution to the trade conflict is expected to boost prices. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.3% at $5,871 a tonne, as of 0246 GMT, extending gains from the previous session, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) advanced 0.5% to 47,130 yuan ($6,695.65) a tonne. Prices were also supported by solid data from the United States, where manufacturing output accelerated in November to its fastest pace in seven months and
services activity picked up more than expected.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME PRICES: LME aluminium rose 0.2% to $1,743 a tonne, nickel advanced 0.2% to $14,665 a tonne, zinc climbed 0.7% to $2,322 a tonne, while lead increased 0.4% to $1,974.50 a tonne.
* SHFE PRICES: ShFE aluminium edged up 0.1% to 13,850 yuan a tonne, nickel jumped 0.8% to 115,080 yuan a tonne, zinc advanced 0.1% to 18,085 yuan a tonne and lead rose 0.3% to 15,560 yuan a tonne.
* NICKEL: The European Union launched a complaint at the World Trade Organization on Friday against Indonesia’s curbs on exporting nickel and other raw materials, which are designed to benefit its own smelting and stainless steel industries.
* CHINA SCRAP: China’s imports of scrap metal in October fell 42.9% from the previous month to 160,000 tonnes, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed on Saturday.
* TRADE DEAL: An ambitious “phase two” trade deal between the United States and China is looking less likely as the two countries struggle to strike a preliminary “phase one” agreement, according to U.S. and Beijing officials, lawmakers and trade experts.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares made guarded gains on Monday as investors dared to hope for some progress in the endless Sino-U.S. trade dispute, while the outperformance of recent U.S. economic data gave the dollar a leg up on its peers.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0900 Germany Ifo Business Climate New Nov 0900 Germany Ifo Curr Conditions New Nov 0900 Germany Ifo Expectations New Nov
Source : https://www.reuters.com/article/global-metals