ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 21/08: LME base metals mostly up; Turkey initiates WTO complaint vs US; Chile’s Escondida mine workers reach labor deal with BHP

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Monday August 20, boosted by growing optimism over US-Sino trade relations amid a slight retreat in the dollar index. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:

Turkey has requested dispute consultations with the United States at the World Trade Organization regarding the doubling of US Section 232 duties on certain imported steel and aluminium products, the trade group said on Monday.

Workers will not strike at Chile’s Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, after an agreement was reached between the union and operator BHP late last week.

An “independent body” will decide in six weeks’ time whether to close Sterlite’s Tuticorin copper smelter in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, according to local media reports on August 20.

High growth in demand for lithium batteries is spurring a threefold growth in mine production of the material over the next four years, according to analytics firm GlobalData.

The global steel and ferrous scrap markets have been turned upside down on a flurry of unexpected trade flows caused by a combination of economic jitters in Turkey, trade defenses by the United States and production cuts in China.