Copper stumbles over slow demand in global market
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The recent report published by the US labour department showed that employers added a larger-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate declined to 3.5 percent from 3.7 percent.
In reaction to this, copper for delivery in December fell 1.4 percent on the Comex market in New York, touching $3.39 per pound or $7,458 per tonne, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) slipped 1.1 percent at $7,527.50 a tonne.
Reports of slow demand in the Chinese market also weighed on copper as China continued its strict lockdown approach towards containing the Covid-19 pandemic.
Commenting on the copper market, Ewa Manthey, commodities strategist at ING, noted that despite the ongoing supply disruptions, concerns over macro headwinds and recession fears are currently dominating copper’s sentiment and prices.
Manthey added that worries about China’s ailing economy will also keep the metal under pressure until the government eases its strict Covid-19 restrictions.
Other industrial metals also suffered a similar bearish fate but lead fared better than the rest, edging down 0.1 percent to $2,056 a tonne after more erosion in LME inventories.
Market participants observed that over the past few days, available LME lead stocks have declined about 61 percent to the lowest level in three decades after owners of metal notified the exchange they wanted to remove their material.
Meanwhile, aluminium lost 0.2 percent to $2,341.50 a tonne, zinc was down 1.9 percent to $3,062 a tonne, nickel fell 1 percent to $22,550 a tonne, and tin shed 0.4 percent to $20,085 a tonne.