London copper prices extended losses into a third straight session on Tuesday following a report that US President Donald Trump expects to move ahead with raising tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports. Copper is down around 15 per cent in London so far in 2018 on concerns the US-China trade spat will hurt the demand for industrial metals.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” he would accept China's request to hold off on a planned increase in the tariffs from 10 per cent to 25 per cent due to take effect on January 1. Trump, who is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires this week, said that if negotiations were unsuccessful, he would also impose tariffs on the rest of Chinese imports.
“Investors continue to monitor the situation around the US-China trade conflict, with the upcoming G20 summit likely to see President Trump and President Xi sit down and discuss a deal,” ANZ said in a note.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had fallen 1 per cent to $6,130 a tonne by 0716 GMT, extending a 0.3 per cent drop from the previous session. The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 0.8 per cent at 48,880 yuan ($7,033.30) a tonne.
The metal used to galvanise steel fell the furthest in another broad base metals sell-off, slipping as much as 2.6 per cent in London to $2,422 a tonne. Shanghai zinc closed down 2.4 per cent as China's ferrous complex continued to lose ground.
A hive of mine exploration activity is underway in a remote corner of Western Australia's Great Sandy Desert, led by Rio Tinto Ltd,, which has boosted its holdings 10-fold in the little explored Paterson province in the past year.
China Hongqiao Group, the world's biggest aluminium producer, has been ordered to close up to 550,000 tonnes of annual smelting capacity this winter, according to analyst calculations based on a local government document.
Asian share markets fought to keep a global rebound alive on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump seemed to quash hopes of a trade truce with China, clouding what had been a bright start to the week.