METALS-Copper eyes 10-year high as Fed reaffirms policy support
(Updates prices, adds chart)
HANOI, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Shanghai copper prices jumped to a near 10-year high on Thursday in a base metal rally, as the U.S. Federal Reserve reaffirmed its loose monetary policy to support growth in the world’s largest economy.
The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 4.5% to 70,740 yuan ($10,964.04) a tonne, a level unseen since March 2011, before easing to close at 70,150 yuan a tonne, still up 3.6%.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 2.3% to $9,518.50 a tonne by 0714 GMT.
Earlier in the session, the contract hit its highest since August 2011 of $9,617 a tonne, 5.6% below its record high of $10,190 a tonne hit in February that year.
Aluminium also climbed, with Shanghai prices jumping 6% to a 9-1/2-year high of 17,635 yuan a tonne before closing at 17,480 yuan a tonne, up 5.1%. The LME contract rose 2% to $2,229 a tonne.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said it may take more than three years to reach the central bank’s inflation goals, a sign the central bank plans to leave interest rates unchanged for a while, against market expectations that it would tighten monetary policy soon.
“Copper, aluminium and tin are storming ahead after Powell’s bullish comments to support the economy and there is a mix of supply tightness underpinning these particular metals,” said commodities broker Anna Stablum of Marex Spectron.
“Copper sees multi-year lows treatment charges. China will struggle to produce enough aluminium in a carbon-free world and tin is well benefiting with massive demand and difficulties in the supply chain,” Stablum added.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME tin rose 1.2% to $27,010 a tonne, while ShFE tin climbed 1.5% to 191,790 yuan a tonne. ShFE nickel advanced 1.7% to 144,990 yuan a tonne and LME nickel fell 0.4% to $19,635 a tonne.
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