SHANGHAI, Jun 10 (SMM) – Discounts of spot copper cathode widened slightly on the morning of June 10 in Shanghai as sellers tended to boost trades while a continued rally in copper futures deterred downstream purchases. Amid elevated copper prices, speculative buyers also turned cautious about restocking. 

Offers of standard-grade copper slipped to discounts of 50-40 yuan/mt, against the SHFE June contract, as of noon, from discounts of 30-20 yuan/mt in early trades this morning. The price spread between standard-grade copper and high-quality copper narrowed with the discounts for high-grade copper widening to as much as 40 yuan/mt at noon. 

Weakened purchases by downstream buyers drove discounts of hydro-copper to as wide as 80 yuan/mt as of noon. 

Shanghai copper is on track to increase for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday amid bullish prospects for global economic reopening. The SHFE June copper contract moved higher to approach 47,000 yuan/mt and finished the morning trading hours on Wednesday at 46,880 yuan/mt, up 1.19% on the day. 

As of noon on June 10, trades of high-grade copper occurred at 46,810-46,900 yuan/mt with standard-quality copper trading at 46,800-46,890 yuan/mt.