Industrial metals jumped across the board on Monday, with benchmark London copper hitting a near two-month high, after the United States and China agreed to a ceasefire in their trade dispute that has shaken global markets.
Washington and Beijing will halt additional tariffs in a deal that keeps their trade war from escalating as the two sides try again to bridge their differences with fresh talks aimed at reaching an agreement within 90 days. The truce “is not substantive, but is already better than market expectations,” Helen Lau, an analyst with Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong, wrote in a note.
Copper, which has been battered by an uncertain economic outlook for most of 2018 amid the trade row, “may outperform all base and other hard commodities,” she added.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 2.5 per cent to $6,352 a tonne, its highest since October 4, and was at $6,318 as of 0330 GMT. The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 2.4 per cent to 50,790 yuan ($7,333.55) a tonne, the highest since Oct. 15, and ended the morning session at 50,260 yuan.
The metal used to galvanise steel climbed as much as 6 per cent in Shanghai, its biggest intraday jump since July, before trimming gains to trade 3.8 per cent higher. LME zinc rose as much as 3 per cent to $2,617.50 a tonne, the most since November 19, before easing to $2,571. The premium for cash LME zinc over the three-month price soared to $113 a tonne on Friday, the highest since 1997.
China's factory activity grew slightly in November, a private survey showed, though new export orders extended their decline in a further blow to the sector already hurt by the Sino-US trade frictions. The dollar index fell by 0.3 percent on easing trade tensions, making dollar-denominated metals cheaper for holders of other currencies and further supporting prices.
Asian shares rallied on Monday after US and Chinese leaders brokered a truce in their trade conflict, a relief for the global economic outlook and a tonic for emerging markets.