METALS-London copper eases on dollar rebound, demand worries

May 24 (Reuters) – London copper prices edged lower on Tuesday after hitting a more than two-week high in the previous session, as the dollar rebounded and demand worries persisted due to ongoing lockdowns in top consumer China.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.4% at $9,510.50 a tonne, as of 0217 GMT, after hitting its highest since May 5 at $9,565 on Monday.

* The most-active June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.2% to 72,150 yuan ($10,827.48) a tonne.

* Beijing extended its work-from-home requirement to stem a COVID-19 outbreak, while Shanghai deployed more testing and curbs to hold on to its hard-won “zero COVID” status after two months of lockdown.

* The safe-haven dollar clawed back some of its overnight losses on Tuesday, making greenback-denominated metals more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

* China will broaden its tax credit rebates, postpone social security payments and loan repayments, roll out new investment projects and take other steps to support the economy, state television quoted the cabinet as saying on Monday.

* Inventories of copper <MCUSTX-TOTAL> in LME-registered warehouses fell by 3,525 tonnes to 171,075 tonnes.

* Japan’s manufacturing activity expanded at the slowest pace in three months in May, as supply bottlenecks due to shortages of parts and China’s lockdowns caused output and new orders growth to slow.

* Russia’s Nornickel expects a global nickel market surplus of 37,000 tonnes in 2022, it said on Monday, lowering its estimate from its February forecast.

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MARKETS NEWS

* Asian shares slipped on Tuesday as relief at a rally on Wall Street was quickly soured by a slide in U.S. stock futures, while the euro held near one-month highs as odds narrowed on a July rate rise by the ECB.

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

Most active ShFE nickel

Three month LME tin

Most active ShFE tin ($1 = 6.6636 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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