METALS-Copper slips as U.S.-China trade optimism fades, tin touches 6-month peak

By Kitco News / January 10, 2019 / www.kitco.com / Article Link


* China-U.S. trade talks 'made progress', but details sparse
* Dollar index near three-month low
* China Nov factory inflation at more than 2-yr low
* Tin prices top $20,000/T for first time since June
(Adds closing prices)By Maytaal AngelLONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Copper slipped on Thursday asoptimism over U.S.-China trade talks faded and poor China dataweighed, though a weaker dollar and still tight supply-sideconditions kept losses in check.China said the three days of talks in Beijing hadestablished a "foundation" to resolve the two country'sdifferences, but gave virtually nothing in the way of details onkey issues at stake. [ At the same time, the world's biggest base metals consumerreleased data showing factory-gate inflation rose at its slowestrate in more than two years. "The question is how sustainable the (China-U.S.)developments will be. It's given the market breathing space butthere's still no substantial information communicated," saidXiao Fu, head of commodity market strategy at Bank of ChinaInternational.Underpinning copper, however, the dollar languished near athree-month low, making dollar-priced metals cheaper fornon-U.S. investors.


* COPPER PRICE: Three-month copper on the London MetalExchange ended down 0.5 percent at $5,928 a tonne,snapping three days of gains. The metal fell 18 percent in 2018and has slipped 0.1 percent since the start of this year.


* COPPER TECHNICALS: "The net spec short is small butgrowing at 5.4 percent of open interest. Support (is at)$5,890/900 basis the lows this week," said Marex Spectron in anote.
* TIN: The soldering metal closed above $20,000 a tonne forthe first time since late June on Wednesday. It closed up 0.4percent at $20,140 a tonne, having hit a fresh six-month high of$2,200.


"The price rise is likely to have been triggered by concernsabout supply, for Indonesia - the world's largest tin exporter -has been exporting considerably less tin since October,"Commerzbank said.
* TIN STOCKS: Stocks of tin held in LME-registeredwarehouses are at their lowest in 20 years at just 1,505 tonnes,down 50 percent since mid-December.
* GRASBERG: Exports of copper concentrate from Indonesia'sGrasberg mine, the world's second-largest copper mine, areexpected to drop to 200,000 tonnes this year from around 1.2million tonnes in 2018.
* CHILE COPPER: Copper production in Chile, the world's topproducer of the red metal, reached 5.33 million tonnes inNovember, a 6 percent increase over the same period of theprevious year.
* ANGLO AMERICAN: Mining firm Anglo American Plc isbetting on South America as its main growth area for base metalsin the coming years, a top executive told Reuters.
* OTHER METALS: Aluminium ended up 0.5 percent at$1,861, zinc closed down 1.3 percent at $2,461, lead ended up 0.3 percent at $1,976 while nickel ended flat at $11,245.<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Jan Harvey andSusan Fenton)

Messaging: maytaal.angel.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)))

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