New China COVID curbs push copper to two-week low

Copper prices slid to near two-week lows on Monday, pressured by fresh COVID curbs in top consumer China, a stronger dollar and rising inventories in warehouses registered with the London Metal Exchange.

“Hopes of a rapid reopening in China have been disappointed,” said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.

“The elephant in the room is the property market. I don’t buy that because people don’t have to quarantine anymore, they will go out and buy homes, confidence has been badly shaken.”

A recent Reuters survey showed China’s property sector will remain weak but see a gradual recovery in 2023, while prices of new homes are expected to fall in the first half of next year.

The higher U.S. currency weighed on industrial metals overall as it makes dollar-priced commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Tin was down 3.7% at $21,820 a tonne.

“Production has strongly recovered this year and tin is exposed to a further slowdown in consumer goods spending as ex-China economic activity deteriorates,” said Citi analyst Tom Mulqueen.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Pratima Desai; additional reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; editing by Devika Syamnath)