Copper Prices Extended Gains as US Dollar Dropped to a Low

SHANGHAI, Mar 29 - LME copper closed with a drop of 0.36% at $8,957/mt overnight. Trading volume stood at 12,000 lots. Open interest stood at 249,000 lots. The most active SHFE 2305 copper contract finished at 69,530 yuan/mt last night, up 0.14%. Trading volume stood at 27,000 lots and open interest stood at 171,000 lots.

On the macro front, the US dollar fell for a second day against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, near a seven-week low, as fears of a banking crisis eased and markets resumed their acceptance of riskier assets.

In terms of fundamentals, due to the appreciation of the yuan yesterday, the import loss expanded to around 500-600 yuan/mt.

In addition, near the end of the month, more downstream companies rely on long-term contract supply of goods. Combined with yesterday's surge in copper prices, there were few traders under small orders. Spot market transactions were not active.