(Recasts, updates prices)
BEIJING, March 27 (Reuters) - Copper traded in a tight
range on Monday as investors weighed the supply and demand
outlook against macroeconomic concerns while the London Metal
Exchange (LME) nickel contract slipped on its first day of
trading in Asian hours since last March.
Three-month copper on the LME added 0.3% to
$8,946.50 a tonne by 0724 GMT and the most-traded May copper
contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended day
trading 0.2% up at 69,250 yuan ($10,068.77) a tonne.
Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by SHFE were down 11.6% last Friday, falling for a fourth
consecutive week. Stocks have declined by more than a third to
161,152 tonnes since late February.
Falling inventories, improving demand and a potential pause
in U.S. interest rate hikes supported metal prices, though
global banking woes continue to cast a shadow over markets.
The dollar held steady on Monday, maintaining some pressure
on dollar-priced commodities.
LME nickel slipped 0.7% to $23,300 a tonne.
The bourse had suspended the nickel market and cancelled all
trades after prices doubled within hours to more than $100,000 a
tonne on March 8, 2022.
The return of nickel trading in Asian hours could make it
easier for Asia-based traders to seek profit from the price
difference between London and Shanghai.
However, the high margin and the limited deliverable
products on the market will weigh on liquidity benefits derived
from Asian trading, traders said.
Class 1 nickel, the type of primary nickel that can be
delivered against LME and SHFE contracts, represented only 30%
or so of global primary nickel production in 2021, said S&P
Global Commodity Insights analyst Jason Sappor.
Sappor expects illiquid trading conditions and volatile
prices to remain a feature of LME nickel trading in the near
term.
SHFE nickel rose 0.5% to 177,940 yuan a tonne,
aluminium gained 0.5% to 18,480 yuan, tin jumped 3.6% to 201,660 yuan and zinc was up 0.5% at
22,545 yuan.
LME aluminium firmed by 0.3% to $2,344 a tonne and
tin rose 0.8% to $25,030, while zinc was down
0.6% at $2,875.50 and lead eased by 0.1% to $2,123.50.
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(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton
Editing by Varun H K and David Goodman)
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