(Updates prices)
March 9 (Reuters) - London copper prices fell on
Thursday, as the dollar hovered near a three-month high, making
the greenback-priced metal more expensive to holders of other
currencies.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell
1% to $8,818 a tonne by 0800 GMT, while the most-traded April
copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose
0.5% to 69,290 yuan ($9,938.18) a tonne, tracking overnight
gains in London.
The dollar held near the three-month high it reached after
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's message that interest
rates would have to go higher and possibly faster to tame
inflation.
Easing supply disruptions in major copper-producing
countries also weighed on prices.
Panama's government and Canada's First Quantum Minerals agreed on the final text for a contract to operate the
Cobre Panama mine, and Panamanian authorities allowed the
company to resume concentrate loading operations.
Disruptions in Peru and Indonesia have also eased.
However, as LME copper hit a near-two-month low of $2,317 a
tonne on Wednesday, demand picked up slightly in China.
"After the price correction yesterday, the downstream
stocking sentiment has improved and the spot premium has risen
slightly," Jinrui Futures said in a note.
Chinese domestic copper premium rose to a
three-week high of 45 yuan a tonne on Wednesday.
LME aluminium fell 0.9% to $2,333 a tonne, zinc dropped 0.7% to $2,953 a tonne, lead lost 0.5%
to $2,082.50 a tonne and tin shed 1.8% to $23,305 a
tonne.
SHFE aluminium eased 0.1% to 18,495 yuan a tonne,
nickel fell 0.7% to 186,510 yuan a tonne, zinc dipped 0.4% to 23,185 yuan a tonne, lead was almost
flat at 15,180 yuan a tonne, and tin shed 2.7% to
192,910 yuan a tonne.
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(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu,
Savio D'Souza and Sharon Singleton)
mai.nguyen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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