Copper slips from record highs on Middle East worries

Business Recorder reported that copper on the London Metal Exchange eased from record levels on Wednesday, as fighting in the Middle East intensified and stirred worries about global growth and demand for metals.

Three-month copper traded 0.5 per cent lower at $14,641 a metric ton by 0945 GMT, after reaching an all-time peak of $14,779 a day earlier. Oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel to a six-week high after a sharp rise in attacks between Iran and the United States, in a conflict now about six months old. ING commodities strategist Ewa Manthey said investors were growing wary of the broader economic picture as crude at that level added to inflation and growth concerns.

Most of the 17 per cent gain in LME copper this year came as metal moved to the US, where traders bet on tariffs for refined copper, leaving shortages elsewhere. According to the report, StoneX analyst Natalie Scott-Gray estimated more than 1.2 million tons had entered the US since the Section 232 copper investigation began in February last year. COMEX copper fell 0.9 per cent to $6.76 a lb on the same day.