The price of copper fell on Wednesday, as concerns about tensions between the United States and China, the main consumer of metals, were added to the concern that more interest rate hikes depress global economic activity.
* At 1045 GMT, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.5% to $7.767 a tonne, marking a third straight day of losses.
* China has furiously condemned the highest-level US visit to Taiwan in 25 years by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
* “There is quite a bit of concern about Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. The US-China relationship was expected to improve after Biden’s inauguration, and now it seems to be hitting a new bottom,” said Naeem Aslam, chief analyst. of Ava Trade market.
* “What we see among investors and traders is that they are concerned that these new geopolitical tensions are going to have an adverse impact on demand for copper and other industrial metals,” he added.
* Chinese stock markets extended losses on the risk of escalating tensions over Taiwan, while iron ore prices fell amid the Chinese property market slump.
* The most traded September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.5% to 59,780 yuan ($8,856.30) a tonne.
* In other base metals, aluminum on the LME was down 0.1% at $2,413 a tonne; zinc fell 1.3% to $3,270.50; lead was down 0.9% at $2,032; nickel fell 0.2% to $22,445; and tin fell 0.8% to $24,045.