The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Friday July 3, falling by more than 1.2% over the afternoon against low turnover, while nickel futures slipped below nearby support levels.
Copper's underlying price on the LME closed at $6,017 per tonne on Friday afternoon, down from an intraday high of $6,085 per tonne, but above a daily low of $5,987 per tonne. Turnover was lower in the absence of the United States ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend. Just over 12,000 lots of copper were exchanged over the day, while a fresh outflow of some 4,325 tonnes from mixed locations offered little support to the red metal's price decline. Total LME copper stocks now stand at 206,375 tonnes, with some 110,725 tonnes now on-warrant. Still, exchange data now shows one dominant holder at 30-39% of copper warrants, while another holds 30-39% of cash positions. Yet with...