(Adds stocks, updates prices)
BEIJING, April 7 (Reuters) - Copper prices in Shanghai
nudged up on Friday, amid quiet trading ahead of the U.S.
non-farm payrolls report, but the metal was headed for a slight
weekly loss under macro economic pressure.
The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures
Exchange ended daytime trade 0.6% higher at 69,040 yuan
($10,041.89) a tonne as of 0755 GMT. It has lost 0.6% so far
this week.
Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by SHFE declined
at a slower rate on Friday, down 0.5% week on week to 155,761
tonnes. Trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME) is closed because
of the Good Friday holiday. Three-month LME copper declined 1.5% this week.
Copper prices, often seen as an economic bellwether, touched
their lowest in more than two weeks on Wednesday after weak U.S.
economic data fuelled fears of a recession.
The dollar index dipped on Friday in thin trading as
investors pondered how pivotal U.S. jobs data coming out on a
stock trading holiday might impact the Federal Reserve's policy
and unleash a potentially volatile market reaction.
Meanwhile, tight inventories and improved demand in top
consumer China lent some support to the market.
Marex noted a growing number of Chinese smelters were
inactive by the end of March and the second quarter is also
expected to be a particularly busy period for maintenance in
China.
CITIC Futures forecast for 2023 that China's copper
production will rise by 6.6% while its demand will increase by
4%.
SHFE tin slipped 0.5% to 196,700 yuan, while
aluminium gained 0.5% to 18,690 yuan a tonne, zinc climbed 0.2% at 22,140 yuan, lead was up 0.6%
at 15,320 yuan, and nickel rose 3.1% to 178,760 yuan.
SHFE nickel stocks plunged 16.7% to 1,505 tonnes on Friday,
the lowest since August 2022. For the top stories in metals and other news, click or ($1 = 6.8752 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu and Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)
LME price overview COMEX copper futures All metals news All commodities news Foreign exchange rates SPEED GUIDES ))
