Prospects for higher Chinese demand push copper to five-week high

Copper prices hit five-week highs on Monday as the lifting of COVID lockdowns in top consumer China boosted the demand outlook, while declining inventories provided additional support.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 2.33% at $9,724.50 a tonne at 11:37 GMT, having hit its highest since April 27 at $9,724.50. 9,916.19.

“China has been opening up little by little and has been announcing political measures to support the economy, the market seems to continue valuing a greater rebound in Chinese activity in the coming months”said Max Layton, an analyst at Citi.

“We agree with this direction, but remain cautious, as we continue to believe that a timely and decisive deployment of stimulus measures, beyond what has been announced, by China is needed to support prices at levels current”he added.

Beijing and Shanghai are returning to normal in recent days after two months of isolation.

In other base metals, aluminum rose 1.7% to $2,773 a tonne; zinc gained 0.7% to US$3,892; lead was up 0.5% at $2,179; tin fell 0.7% to $34,700; and nickel rose 5.5% to $29,670.