Federal Reserve's Hawkish Speech Weighed Down Copper Prices

LME copper prices closed at $8,239.5/mt last evening, down 1.32%. Trading volume was 20,000 lots and open interest stood at 262,000 lots. SHFE 2308 copper contract finished at 67,310 yuan/mt last evening, down 0.68%. Trading volume was 40,000 lots, and open interest stood at 187,000 lots. At the group meeting of the four central banks in Europe, Britain, the United States and Japan, Powell said that he did not rule out the possibility of the Fed raising interest rates again at its next meeting in July, and reiterated that it is necessary to raise interest rates twice this year.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said that there is still work to be done on inflation, and that there is not enough substantive evidence that underlying inflation is falling. A pause in interest rate hikes is not currently considered. In terms of fundamentals, the supply of available cargoes in the spot market in east China is tight, and the sellers held back their cargoes. Market transactions were relatively quiet at the end of the month and in the middle of the year.

Inventories in south China continued to increase due to the relatively weak downstream consumption near the end of the month, and smelters liquidating inventories, lowering spot quotes. Trading will be still quiet in the near term. In terms of consumption, the market will gradually enter the off-season. Weak fundamentals and the hawkish stance of ECB and Federal Reserve lowered copper prices.