Copper prices down on rebounding US dollar index

LME copper prices opened at $8127/mt and closed at $8106.5/mt last evening, down 0.52%. Trading volume was 21,000 lots and open interest stood at 267,000 lots. The most active SHFE 2311 copper contract prices opened at 67190 yuan/mt and closed at 67280 yuan/mt last evening, a drop of 0.34%, with the high-end of 67440 yuan/mt and the low-end of 67050 yuan/mt. Trading volume was 31,000 lots, and open interest stood at 151,000 lots.

On the macro front, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari expects to raise interest rates again this year and then leave them unchanged. In addition, he believes there is a 40% chance that the Fed will have to significantly raise interest rates to curb inflation. The US dollar index posted a six-day winning streak, putting pressure on copper prices.

In terms of fundamentals, transaction activity in East China has begun to decline yesterday. Although copper prices continued to shift downward, due to the relatively abundant supply of goods, purchasers had strong dominance. And the market preferred front-month invoices; inventories in South China stopped falling and rebounded, but the increase was small. The supply of goods available for circulation in the market was still insufficient. In terms of consumption, as of yesterday, market replenishment was basically completed, and demand growth is expected to decline in the remaining two days before the holidays. It is expected that copper prices will still have room to decline in the near future.