LME copper prices opened at $8182.5/mt and closed at $8212.5/mt in overnight trading, a gain of 0.31%, with the low-end of $8167/mt and the high-end of $8275/mt. Trading volume was 25,000 lots, and open interest stood at 265,000 lots. The most active SHFE 2312 copper contract prices opened at 67550 yuan/mt and finished at 67660 yuan/mt overnight, up 0.33%, with the low-end of 67550 yuan/mt and the high-end of 67910 yuan/mt. Trading volume was 31,000 lots and open interest stood at 145,000 lots.
On the macro front, both the overall CPI and core CPI in the United States were lower than expected. The non-seasonally adjusted CPI annual rate in October was 3.2%, and the core CPI was 0.2%. Interest rate futures pricing indicates that the Fed's current interest rate hike cycle has completely ended, and it is expected to cut interest rates by a cumulative 100 basis points by the end of next year, with the first round of interest rate cuts as early as May. In terms of fundamentals, the overall transaction volume in East China yesterday was weak. As delivery is approaching, downstream purchasing willingness was not high due to the high price difference between the front-month and next-month contracts. It is expected that premiums and discounts before delivery will remain low; in South China, due to the small arrival of goods and large shipments, inventory has once again fell and hit a new low for the year. Therefore, although copper prices rose yesterday, the sellers kept prices firm, but the downstream mainly maintained on-demand purchases and could not accept the current high premium. Demand is expected to remain weak. In terms of price, copper prices will rebound slightly due to the cooling of U.S. inflation.
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