Copper rises, set for eighth weekly gain on falling LME stocks

Business Recorder reported that copper edged higher on Friday and was headed for an eighth consecutive weekly advance. Repeated requests to pull metal out of London Metal Exchange storage have raised doubts about how much is available. The benchmark three-month LME contract rose 0.22% to $14,314.5 a metric ton by 0315 GMT, and has gained 0.7% for the week.

Cancelled warrants, which mark metal set aside for removal from storage, have supported prices, according to CRU analyst Craig Lang. This week's cancellations counterbalanced a large part of the earlier rise in stocks from heavy inflows. Exchange data showed LME-registered warehouses held 107,050 tons on Thursday, compared with 166,775 tons a week earlier, while metal also moved toward US warehouses ahead of a possible US tariff on refined copper.

Copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where the main contract is most traded, rose 0.4% to 108,820 yuan ($16,191.77) per ton. Zinc gained 0.73% on the LME yet dropped 0.3% in Shanghai, with ING analysts pointing to low inventories and treatment charges that remain deeply negative.