Copper for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 1.20 cents or 0.4% to $2.9675 per lb.
With the Golden Week holiday under way in China, market participants have moved to the sidelines awaiting further Chinese and US data to see how the final quarter shapes up.
“Outlook-wise, metals are likely to remain well bid going into Q4, as the focus intensifies on the extent and depth of the Chinese output cuts, something we discussed in greater detail in our most recent monthly report released over the weekend,” INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said.
On the currency side, dollar weakened on Wednesday morning due to speculation that the next US Federal Reserve chair may be a less hawkish candidate than previously thought. Gains on the dollar stalled after US political news outlet Politico reported that US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin favours Fed governor Jerome Powell over former governor Kevin Warsh as the next chairperson.
In the precious metals space, Comex gold for December delivery fell $1.70 or 0.1% to $1,273.90 per oz.
Currency moves and data releases
- The dollar index was down 0.16% to 93.44 after reaching as high as 93.92 on Tuesday, which was the highest since August 17.
- In other commodities, the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price fell 0.28% to $50.28 per barrel.
- In a busy economic agenda day, ADP non-farm employment change in September stood at 135,000, above the forecast of 131,000. Retails sales month on month in August dipped to -0.5%, a big miss from the estimates of 0.3%.
- In addition, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen are speaking later.