LONDON: The copper fell below $6,000 to its weakest in over five years because more losses in oil spurred selling by hedge funds in China despite signs of physical demand for metal there. Worries about lackluster growth in the global economy and the extended rout in oil spurred broad-based selling across the
London Metal Exchange, sending zinc to a seven-month low. “There are two opposing drivers at the moment. On the one hand we have down-drag from macro forces and also oil prices, on the other hand, the actual demand trends, especially from China, have been pretty decent recently,” said Xiao Fu, head of commodity market strategy at Bank of China International. “Over the near term, there are still significant market headwinds. Looking at the option open interest in copper, the put option strike $5,500 is where most of the put options are concentrated. One could argue that the speculative community is probably still trying to take advantage of those macro trends.” Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had tumbled 2.9 percent to $5,840 a tonne by 1122 GMT, its lowest since October 2009, adding to a 1.3 percent drop in the previous
session. China-based hedge funds jumped in to short copper following oil’s lead, said a Singapore-based trader. “They definitely have
got more to do.”
Oil prices fell to their lowest in almost six years as a big
OPEC producer stood by the group’s decision not to cut output to Aluminium shed 1.8 percent to $1,776 a tone and selling also hit other metals, as commodity index rebalancing continues to Jan. 14, with zinc falling 2.3 percent to $2,090 a tonne, its weakest since June 2014.
PRICES
Three month LME copper
Most active ShFE copper
Three month LME aluminium
Most active ShFE aluminium
Three month LME zinc
Most active ShFE zinc
Three month LME lead
Most active ShFE lead
Three month LME nickel
Three month LME tin
