Copper rises as Chinese demand expectations add to speculative momentum

Copper prices climbed for a fifth straight day on Monday, inching closer to record highs as anticipation of seasonal demand growth in China's largest market fueled speculative buying. The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed 0.9% to $14,654 per metric ton by 0957 GMT, after reaching $14,710.5, its highest point since September 10 when it peaked at $14,875.

Speculative demand has surged after funds trimmed their net long positions in Comex copper futures from the week leading up to September 15, as the White House has not yet decided on refined copper tariffs, according to Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. Although the premium of US copper futures over LME prices expanded, it was not enough to spur new physical shipments to COMEX copper stocks, which hold 69% of 1-million-ton exchange-monitored copper inventories.

Copper prices benefited from expectations of inventory replenishment in China ahead of the country's holidays on September 25 and from October 1 to 7, while traders await a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. The Yangshan copper, a metric for Chinese demand for imported copper, ended last week at $124 per ton, its highest in nearly four years, though it slipped to $119 on Monday.

LME-registered warehouses' available copper stocks tumbled to 133,725 tons, following 9,600 tons of fresh cancellations in Asia. This widened the premium of the LME cash copper contract over the benchmark to $26 per ton from a discount of $86 on September 14. Aluminium and zinc declined 0.1% to $3,286 and $3,917, respectively, while lead rose 0.3% to $1,927 after hitting its three-month top of $1,929.5, tin increased 0.3% to $53,610, and nickel gained 0.5% to $16,270.