METALS-Base metals broadly rise on weaker dollar

Base metals prices largely rose on Thursday, as a weaker dollar made greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies, while nickel was boosted by hopes of strong demand from the battery sector.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3rose 0.3% to $8,128 a tonne by 0618 GMT, while aluminium CMAL3 advanced 0.6% to $2,332 a tonne, lead CMPB3eased 0.3% to $2,070.50 a tonne, and tin CMSN3 declined 1.2% to $19,590 a tonne.

The dollar struggled to sustain its overnight rally ahead of key U.S. inflation data due later in the day.

SHFE nickel SNIcv1 jumped 4.5% to 201,090 yuan a tonne and lead SPBcv1 rose 2.1% to 15,580 yuan a tonne.

SHFE nickel broke the 200,000 yuan resistance on speculators buying into a positive demand outlook, following a media report that global battery demand is to jump to 1,406 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2025 from the 490 GWh expected this year, said Marex analyst Zenon Ho.

“In the absence of any changes in the micro or macro, (base metals) should see a continued chop sideways,” Ho said, adding that uncertainty remained for the market amid global conflicts and the U.S. mid-term elections.

Chinese province Henan approved 26.2 billion yuan to support financing for troubled real estate projects and to ensure timely deliveries of presold homes, the National Business Daily reported, which could help with metals demand.

The most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 advanced 0.8% to 66,740 yuan ($9,202.85) a tonne, aluminium SAFcv1edged up 0.2% to 18,550 yuan a tonne, zinc SZNcv1 declined 1.4% to 23,405 yuan a tonne and tin SSNcv1 dropped 1% to 168,930 yuan a tonne.

Weak economic data from China and rising coronavirus cases in the world’s biggest metals consumer, however, continued to weigh on risk sentiment for the metals market.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; additional reporting by Siyi Liu in Beijing; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Janane Venkatraman)