LIVE FUTURES REPORT 10/04: SHFE copper prices jump on further cooling of US-China trade tensions

The most-traded May copper contract on the SHFE rose to 51,020 yuan ($8,087) per tonne as of 10.55am Shanghai time, up by 410 yuan from the previous session’s close.

A conciliatory tone struck by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his opening address at the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference on Tuesday has eased concerns of a continued US-China trade war.

In the speech, Xi stressed that Beijing “does not seek a trade surplus” and hopes to increase imports.

Xi also discussed plans to further open up the Chinese economy, including “significantly” lowering import tariffs for autos, decreasing duties on other products, enforcing the legal intellectual property of foreign firms and improving the investment environment for international companies.

Investors’ appetite for the metals returned strongly and Asian markets were buoyed following the comments.

“Commodities were higher… as investors pushed aside concerns about the ongoing trade dispute to focus on the positive fundamentals,” ANZ Research said on Tuesday.

“Spot buying appetite [for copper] should grow stronger as the market is entering into a peak consumption season,” analysts with Citic Futures Research noted.

But the red metal could still be vulnerable to swings due to developments in key labor contract negotiations.

Codelco’s Chuquicamata division has reached an agreement with its supervisors’ union for a new labor contract, the Chilean copper producer announced late on Monday.

This follows the company reaching a deal with union workers at its Radomiro Tomic division at the end of last week.

Other metals higher, except tin and lead

• The SHFE June aluminium contract price rose 90 yuan to 14,360 yuan per tonne.
• The light metal price continues to find support following April 6’s announcement that the US had sanctioned and frozen the assets of Oleg Deripaska and UC Rusal.
• The SHFE June zinc contract price gained 150 yuan to 24,505 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE May lead contract price dropped 110 yuan to 18,445 yuan per tonne
• The SHFE May tin contract price was 10 yuan weaker at 144,740 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE July nickel contract price surged 1,700 yuan to 101,330 yuan per tonne.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was up by 0.05% at 89.88 as of 10.55am Shanghai time.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price was up by 0.62% to $68.98 per barrel as of 10.55am Shanghai time.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite was up by 0.51% to 3154.26 at the close of morning session at 11.30am Shanghai time.
• In data today, we have the core and headline US producer price indices as well as wholesale inventories of note.