Metals Show Mixed Performance, Copper Ends Higher Thanks to Speculative Buying [March 19 LME Close]

On Wednesday, March 19, London copper prices closed higher, supported by speculative buying.

At 17:00 London time on March 19 (01:00 Beijing time on March 20), three-month copper rose by $83, or 0.84%, to close at $9,987.5 per mt, the highest level since October 8.

On Tuesday, Nvidia stated that due to the unreliability of optical technology, the company would continue using copper cables to connect its flagship chips, which boosted copper prices.

Traders said systematic funds using computer analysis led the buying in the market, driven mainly by momentum after technical levels were breached.

Alastair Munro of Marex stated in a report that some investors were buying base metals while selling ferrous metals or oil.

The premium of Comex copper prices over LME copper prices widened to a record $1,259 per mt, surpassing the previous record set on Tuesday.

However, some analysts warned that the high copper prices were not supported by supply and demand fundamentals.

Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading, said, "We are still under pressure to ship as much copper as possible to the US. Copper arbitrage trading is still expanding. I am very nervous about what will happen in the next three to six months because I think much of this is driven by artificial factors."

A stronger US dollar index limited the gains, making dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Among other base metals, three-month zinc was the worst performer on the LME.

On Tuesday, Boliden stated that it is upgrading its Odda zinc smelter, increasing capacity from 200,000 mt/year to 350,000 mt/year.