Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Wednesday February 13, with a late-afternoon appreciation in the US dollar index contributing to dampened buying sentiment while LME volumes remain low.
Copper futures continued to trade in positive territory throughout the afternoon, despite falling over 3% from last week's high of $6,289.50 per tonne on February 7. The metal's decade-low in LME inventories continues to prompt upward price moves, while a contango in copper's cash/three-month spread - recently at $4 per tonne - remains supportive of spot buying. That said, the base metals' complex remains on a broad downtrend, with aluminium, nickel, zinc and lead futures continuing to record losses this week. Open interest in both copper and aluminium continue to push higher however, with copper above 400,000 open positions for the first time since December 2018 and aluminium surpassing 921,000 open positions, its highest since July 2018. "LME copper is essentially flat on the day alongside most of the rest of its complex (excluding tin which increased...