Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange drifted mostly lower during morning trading on Monday September 10, capped by a downtrend in Asian equity markets amid continued risk aversion due to escalating US-Sino trade tensions.
Falling 1.2% over the morning, three-month copper prices struggled to push back over the $6,000 per tonne mark despite a continued trend of stock drawdowns and fresh cancelations. Aluminium's three-month price also fell just over 1% despite total LME on-warrant inventory remaining at its lowest level in 10 years at 765,025 tonnes. On Friday, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose duties on approximately $267 billion worth of Chinese goods in addition to planned tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports. "The markets are once again drifting with the usual fears of trade wars, but now we seem to be developing a disconnect between the US economy...