Copper, which climbed as much as 1.6% earlier in the session, pared gains after comments by Fed officials and as the dollar strengthened.
Copper had earlier joined oil and equities in a wider
upswing on financial markets after investors viewed Tuesday's
comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell as dovish, focusing on his
expectations of slowing inflation. But on Wednesday New York Federal Reserve President John
Williams said the Fed still had more interest rate rises ahead
and will need to keep monetary policy restrictive for some time
to come.
"The markets are moving on every indication of softening or
tightening from the central banks," said WisdomTree commodity
strategist Nitesh Shah.
"There are a lot of questions of whether we're heading into
recession and are central banks tightening too much or are we
going to get relief from central banks with lower rates."
The dollar index had eased on the back of Powell's
comments but later reversed and moved into the black, making
commodities priced in the U.S. currency more expensive for
buyers using other currencies.
Aluminium slipped into the red after data showed LME
inventories soared 27% to 495,750 tonnes, the highest in about
two months, after arrivals in Gwangyang in South Korea.
LME three-month aluminium shed 1.5% to $2,486.50 a
tonne.
Last month sources told Reuters that Glencore had
delivered 40,000 tonnes of Russian aluminium to Gwangyang.
Supply-side issues in copper, including First Quantum
Minerals' suspension of loading operations at a major
port in Panama, supported sentiment.
"This might support spot prices, but its actual impact on supply tightness remains to be seen as several smelters will start maintenance in March," a source at a Chinese copper smelter said.
LME zinc added 0.4% to $3,147.50 a tonne, lead gained 1.4% to $2,127, nickel rose 0.4% to $27,355 and tin climbed 1.2% to $27,405. For the top stories in metals and other news, click (Reporting by Eric Onstad Additional reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton in Beijing Editing by Sharon Singleton and David Goodman)
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