Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange surged to a fresh 2018 high during morning trading on Thursday June 7, leading the complex after supply-side disruptions pushed prices up.
"The upswing is continuing this morning, especially in the case of copper. It has climbed to nearly $7,300 per tonne in London, setting its sights on its late-December four-year high," Commerzbank Research said in a morning note. "Copper has now surged over 6% since the start of the month. From a technical perspective, the copper price broke out of its sideways trend at the beginning of the week and rose, which appears to have triggered technical follow-up buying," it added. Copper volumes traded on the exchange were at 11,877 lots at 10:20 am London time, more than three times the amount of aluminium at 3,800 lots. Supply disruptions are beginning to affect copper prices after unresolved labor tensions at the world's top producer, BHP Billiton's Escondida mine in Chile, continue to threaten global production, in addition to the closure of Sterlite's Tuticorin mine in India. "Technical momentum-based buying interest is adding to the bullish sentiment...