(Updates with closing prices)By Peter HobsonLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Most industrial metals prices fellon Thursday and copper hit a three-week low after the arrest ofa top Chinese executive in Canada dampened hopes for aresolution to the U.S.-China trade conflict.
The arrest of tech giant Huawei's finance chief forextradition to the United States cast doubt over a 90-day tradetruce struck on Saturday between the U.S. and Chinesepresidents, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. It sent global stock markets sharply lower, and hit metalsbecause investors fear tariffs will curtail China's demand forcommodities. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) ended 1.7 percent down at $6,070 a tonne after touching itslowest since Nov. 14 at $6,068.
The Huawei arrest had combined with a plunge in oil pricesto turn investors negative on metals, said Capital Economicsanalyst Ross Strachan.
"The optimism in the markets at the beginning of the weekevaporated extremely quickly," he said.
Healthy supply-demand fundamentals, however, meant copperwas unlikely to fall much further, he added, predicting a priceof $6,250 a tonne at the end of 2019.
CHINA EXPORTS: China's economy is showing signs of cooling,with export growth expected to have slowed in November. TRADE DISPUTE: Despite the Huawei arrest, China expressedconfidence in striking a trade deal with the United Stateswithin their 90-day ceasefire period. OIL: Oil fell more than 4 percent in choppy trading afterOPEC and allied exporting countries ended a meeting withoutannouncing a decision to cut crude output, and prepared todebate the matter the next day. GERMAN EXPORTS: Strong foreign demand drove an unexpectedrise in German industrial orders in October. COPPER TECHNICALS: Copper has fallen below its 50- and100-day moving averages, worsening its technical picture.
COPPER STOCKS: In a sign of tight supplies that shouldsupport prices, headline stocks of copper in LME-registeredwarehouses fell to 124,950 tonnes, down from almost 400,000tonnes in March and the lowest since 2008. SPREAD: The premium for cash copper over the three-monthcontract rose to $9.50 from zero on Wednesday, suggesting lessavailability of nearby metal, but it is still down from $44 inlate November. RUSAL: The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee urged the Trump administration not to waive or removesanctions on Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska or companies,including aluminium producer Rusal, that he controls. OTHER METALS: LME aluminium closed 1.7 percent downat $1,936 a tonne, zinc ended down 1 percent at $2,593,nickel fell 3.3 percent to $10,850, tin finished1.3 percent lower at $18,925 and lead eeked out a meagregain of 0.1 percent to $1,984.
(Additional reporting by Muyu Xu and Dominique PattonEditing by David Goodman and Edmund Blair)
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