LONDON, September 12: The London Metal Exchange (LME) base metals all closed higher on Monday except for tin, with copper rebounding late in the session, expanding earlier gains, boosted by late-night fund buying. Traders said they expect Copper can maintain a rebound from the low of around $3,500 last week.
Driven by arbitrage by technical buying and traders, copper prices fluctuated within a range for most of the time, and the trading range was 3,550-3,580 US dollars/ton.
"Currently far from the low point, the fund has been extending from September to about October, so they are maintaining their positions," a trader said.
Copper earlier this month hit a record high of US$3,725 per ton, then fell all the way to 3,510. Three-month copper ended up trading at US$3,605 per ton in late night trading, closing at 3,546 last Friday.
"The copper is rebounding. Maybe it's the limit since the record high fell by about $200," another trader said.
Although the long-term and large-supply shortage of copper has gradually eased, and inventories are rising, the demand from China and the overall inventory level are still low, suggesting that the tight market supply situation will continue for some time.
Investment funds may be optimistic about the situation at the end of the month and the end of the quarter, and seek to protect their profitable parts.
However, other sources said that the near-term short-term uncertainty is still there, and the market is shifting from the traditional summer low season to the more active later season.
Nickel Nickel was not affected by bad news**
Nickel ignored information from major Canadian manufacturer Inco Ltd. The company said that its Thompson nickel plant in Manitoba has reached a preliminary settlement on the issue of labor.
The factory union officials will announce the details of the settlement to 1,100 members at the Thompson meeting, and will hold a vote on September 15th, local time, from 1930 to 2030. The trade union will vote in the statistics.
Traders said that the market will remain cautious before the vote because the union has issued an order to strike on the current contract expiration date.
The three-month nickel closed at $14,525 a tonne and closed at 14,350 on Friday.
Most of the three-month aluminium trading session was buoyant with the uptrend of copper in late session, ending with a gain of $1,859 and last Friday at 1,840.
Three-month zinc closed at $1,419, up from 1,386 last Friday. Lead rose from 861 to 871.
A trader said: "The current problem is that most of the LME zinc stocks are in New Orleans. Our demand shows that this part of the stock is not available." In New Orleans, registered zinc stocks account for 45 of LME zinc stocks. %. On September 6, LME suspended the delivery of this part of the inventory, causing zinc prices to rise to an eight-year high.
The tin trend was sluggish. After rising from last Friday, it was unable to continue rising. It closed at $6,875, which was lower than last Friday's 6,925.