LME copper prices opened at $9482/mt and closed at $9398/mt overnight, a drop of 0.31%, with the low-end of $9325/mt and the high-end of $9511/mt. The trading volume was 30,000 lots, and open interest stood at 324,000 lots. The most active SHFE 2102 contract prices opened at 76500 yuan/mt and finished at 76350 yuan/mt overnight, with the high-end of 76540 yuan/mt and the low-end of 75700 yuan/mt, up 0.25%. Trading volume was 34,000 lots, and open interest stood at 163,000 lots. On the macro level, U.S. inflation data for March grew beyond expectations across the board, shattering previous expectations of a rate cut and pushing the dollar index sharply up 1.043%. Biden made a rare statement that he still expects to cut interest rates before the end of the year, but the timing of the cut will be delayed by at least one month. The sharp rise in the US dollar lowered copper prices overnight. In terms of fundamentals, from the supply side, there is a certain amount of domestic goods arriving. But as the number of warehouse receipts registered at the Shanghai Futures Exchange continued to increase, the spot supply available may decrease. In terms of consumption, copper prices remained stable above 75,500 yuan/ton. Financial pressure is difficult to eliminate, and consumption is still mainly on demand. The CPI data continued to grow beyond expectations, the expectation of interest rate cut was delayed and the US dollar index rose sharply. It is expected that the copper price will fall slightly under the pressure of the US dollar.



