Copper hits 10-day low on profit-taking as supply worries ease

Copper prices fell to their weakest level in 10 days on Thursday, according to Business Recorder, as traders took profits and reacted to a drop in worries over supply. Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 1.2% at $14,314 a metric ton by 1030 GMT, after dipping to $14,289, its lowest since October 5. Pressure also came from a sell-off in AI-linked stocks and concerns about inflation and interest rates.

Analyst Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank in Copenhagen said easing supply worries coincided with a strong inflation report, which the market struggled to absorb at once. He added that technicals were weakening, as copper pressed against a rising trend dating from March and dipped beneath its 50-day moving average. Reduced fear of mine disruption followed the BHP and Escondida supervisors' union deal, which averted a strike at the Chilean mine. Antofagasta posted third-quarter copper output up 7% and kept its annual forecast, even with a walkout at its Centinela mine.

US consumer price data for September put a Fed rate hike later this month back in focus, while Shanghai's most-traded copper contract fell 1.9% to 108,940 yuan a ton. On the LME, aluminium edged down 0.1% to $2,984 a ton, having dipped to its lowest in over nine months, while zinc, lead, nickel and tin also fell.