The three-month copper and lead London Metal Exchange prices ended the week on the rise, hitting June-2018 and January-2020 highs respectively at the 5pm close on Friday November 20, capitalizing on momentum-based trading which pushed the whole complex up.
The three-month copper price closed at $7,277.50 per tonne on Friday, up by 2.6% from Thursday's closing price of $7.093 per tonne, surpassing a closing value of $7,200 per tonne not seen since June 13, 2018. Market analysts say the upward surge in copper is largely due to a risk-on trading environment together with a drawdown in visible stocks, particularly in China, rather than a change in fundamentals. This means the uptrend could end if the economic recovery is hindered in some parts of the world by new Covid-19 lockdowns. "[Incentive] among hedge funds to deploy on the long...