The most-traded BC copper contract closed lower with a 1.52% intraday decline. US Fed interest rate cut and US dollar index stabilization weighed on copper prices. [SMM BC Copper Review]

Today, the most-traded BC copper contract opened at 70,980 yuan/mt and closed lower. In the night session, BC copper opened lower with a gap, reaching a high of 70,980 yuan/mt at the opening. After the daytime session began, copper prices fluctuated rangebound in the morning trading hours. In the afternoon session, the price center moved lower as bears increased positions, touching a low of 70,450 yuan/mt, and finally closed at 70,560 yuan/mt, down 1,090 yuan/mt, a decline of 1.52%. Open interest fell to 4,519 lots, down 75 lots from the previous trading day. Trading volume reached 5,800 lots, up 435 lots from the previous trading day. On the macro front, the US Fed cut interest rates as expected. Powell stated that this interest rate cut was a risk management operation in response to increasing signs of weakness in the labour market, indicating that the Fed's future monetary policy would be highly data-dependent. This led the US dollar index to rise and then stabilize, putting copper prices under pressure. On the fundamentals side, imported supply remained stable, while domestic supply was relatively tight, leading to an overall tightening of supply. On the demand side, downstream purchases increased as copper prices fell, but there was no surge in buying, and wait-and-see sentiment persisted. As of September 18, 2025, SMM's domestic copper cathode social inventory decreased by 5,300 mt to 148,900 mt.

SHFE's most-traded copper 2510 contract closed at 79,620 yuan/mt. Based on the BC copper 2510 contract price of 70,560 yuan/mt, its after-tax price was 81,055 yuan/mt. The price spread between the SHFE copper 2510 contract and the BC copper contract was -113 yuan/mt; the spread remained inverted and narrowed slightly.