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BEIJING, April 12 (Reuters) – Copper prices were buoyed on Wednesday by stronger-than-expected Chinese credit growth data, while rising metal supply and cautious sentiment ahead of key U.S. inflation data weighed on the market.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 added 0.2% to $8,876 a tonne by 0144 GMT, its highest since Apr. 4.
The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 advanced 0.7% to 69,030 yuan ($10,020.03) tonne.
China’s new bank lending hit an all-time high in the first quarter, while broad credit growth quickened as the central bank kept up policy support for the economy after the lifting of stringent COVID-19 curbs.
Investors are awaiting U.S. consumer prices data, due later today, and producer prices on Thursday for further clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate path.
Also weighing on the market was expectation of rising supply.
China’s refined copper production in March jumped 14% from a year ago thanks to newly established capacity and sufficient raw materials supply, state-backed research house Antaike said late on Tuesday.
Antaike also expected output growth to remain strong this month.
Globally, concerns over copper production have eased, after Peru said earlier this week it would hike its copper production by 15% this year to 2.8 million tonnes.
Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 climbed 0.3% at $2,309.50 a tonne, lead CMPB3 gained 0.3% at $2,094, zinc CMZN3 added 0.4% at $2,768.50, while tin CMSN3 dipped 0.2% to $23,695 and nickel CMNI3 eased 0.1% at $23,440.
The share of Russian aluminium stocks in warehouses registered with the London Metal Exchange (LME) climbed to 53% of the total in March, or 220,575 tonnes, from 41% in January, data on the exchange’s website showed on Tuesday.
SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was down 0.2% at 18,425 yuan, zinc SZNcv1 nudged down 0.1% to 22,020 yuan, while lead SPBcv1 edged 0.1% up to 15,290 yuan, tin SSNcv1 gained 0.3% to 190,790 yuan, and nickel SNIcv1 rose 2.4% to 182,080 yuan a tonne.
For the top stories in metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or MET/L
($1 = 6.8892 yuan)
(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Varun H K)
((Siyi.Liu@thomsonreuters.com))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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