METALS-Copper rises as Democrat victories in U.S. weaken the dollar

According to Mining News Pro -Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) traded up 0.6 percent at $6,193 a tonne in official rings. "In the short term metals are getting some benefit from the weakening dollar," said Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar. But he said prices over the longer term depended on the outcome of a U.S.-China trade dispute and its effect on global growth, and that further U.S. tax cuts or other economic stimulus would have lifted metals demand. Aside from a brief dip below $6,000 a tonne last week, copper has traded in a range between around $6,100 and $6,350 a tonne since late September.


On Wednesday copper was struggling to overcome its technically important 100-day moving average at $6,204.


U.S. ELECTION: Donald Trump faced greater restraints on his presidency after Democrats won control of the U.S. House of Representatives and pledged to hold him accountable after a tumultuous two years in the White House. MARKETS/DOLLAR: After the elections, Wall Street was set for a modestly higher open and global stocks rose, but the outcome sent the dollar and Treasury yields sharply lower. COPPER STOCKS: In a sign that supply of copper is tight, on-warrant stocks available to the market in LME-registered warehouses fell to 94,175 tonnes from more than 340,000 tonnes in March. SPREAD: The premium for cash copper over the three-month contract , meanwhile, at $26 signals a shortage of nearby supply. Since mid-2016 cash copper has tended to trade at a discount.


CHINA: China`s exports are expected to have expanded at a healthy clip in October as businesses frontloaded orders before higher U.S. tariffs set in at the turn of the year, a Reuters poll showed. Concerns that a trade war with Washington could damage growth in China, the world`s biggest metals consumer, helped push metals prices sharply lower from peaks earlier this year.


YUAN: In a sign that authorities may be stepping up interventions to keep the yuan from weakening, China`s foreign exchange reserves fell more than expected to an 18-month low in October. ALUMINA: China`s exports of aluminium raw material alumina last month were roughly equal to September`s bumper volumes, the president of Aluminum Corp of China said. PRICES: Aluminium traded up 0.6 percent at $1,962 a tonne, zinc fell 0.9 percent to $2,478.50, lead rose 0.6 percent to $1,921 and tin slipped 0.2 percent at $19,020. Nickel did not trade in official rings but was bid 0.4 percent lower at $11,725.