($10,212.58) a tonne. Citi Research economists said they believed a softer-than-anticipated China recovery and sustained manufacturing-sector weakness outside China would keep metals demand under pressure. The bigger-than-usual inventory build-up in China over the Lunar New Year holiday despite subdued imports reflected the weakness in demand, said market participants. Copper inventories in SHFE warehouses jumped 61.8% to 226,509 tonnes on Friday, compared with Jan. 20 when last set of data was released.
Meanwhile, the dollar climbed, making it less attractive for non-dollar holders to buy the greenback-priced metal. Investors are now awaiting the U.S. jobs report due later in the day. The strength of the labour market is a key concern for the Federal Reserve, which announced a 25 basis-point interest rate hike earlier this week. The latest supply disruption in Peru came as the huge Las Bambas copper mine was set to halt production because of road blockades by protesters. "The news has sent treatment charges offers lower, but trading was very thin because many smelters are sitting on adequate stocks and not concerned about their first-quarter supply," a Chinese smelter said.
Spot treatment charges in China assessed by Asian Metal were at $83.50 a tonne on Feb.2, unchanged since
Jan. 9.
Among other metals, LME aluminium slipped 0.4% to
$2,605.50 a tonne, tin eased 1.8% to $28,850 and zinc fell 1% to $3,348.50, while lead advanced 0.6%
to $2,145.50.
SHFE aluminium dipped 0.1% to 19,095 yuan a tonne,
lead inched 0.2% down to 15,275 yuan, zinc eased 0.3% to 24,105 yuan, while nickel added 0.5% to
221,760 yuan.
For the top stories in metals and other news, click or ($1 = 6.7456 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; editing by
Uttaresh.V and Subhranshu Sahu)
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