Copper Moves Lower but Remains Near High

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• LME Aluminum 3M Select trades $4.75 higher to $3656.50 at 8:32:26 AM

• LME Copper 3M Select trades $-156 lower to $13996.50 at 8:32:28 AM

  • (Bloomberg) – Copper retreated from a record close as the rally started to deter purchases in China, where investors were monitoring the summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.  Soaring prices for the wiring metal that’s key to a global move towards electrification are “notably constraining” Chinese demand, said Xu Wanqiu, an analyst with Cofco Futures Co. Further advances may not be sustainable, though domestic copper prices may still hover around 105,000 yuan ($15,470) a ton as the trading logic of betting on AI demand remains intact, Xu added.  Overall, Chinese demand has been resilient this year as consumption in the energy transition sector offsets losses from the traditional property sector. That’s boosted prices 8.6% on the Shanghai Futures Exchange in 2026, helped by renewed purchases in March after the Lunar New Year holidays.  On-warrant copper inventories on SHFE started to increase this week, rising by 10% in the past three days to 97,001 tons, according to data from the bourse. That followed a significant drawdown in readily available inventories in the past two months.

    Meanwhile, Xi and Trump kicked off a summit on Thursday, which is a first visit by a sitting US president to Beijing in nearly a decade. Trade, Iran and Taiwan were among key topics up for discussion during the two-day visit.  Traders are also monitoring the Chinese tax authority’s crackdown on the ‘invoicing economy’ or fraudulent trades that inflate revenue, a move that has crimped liquidity in spot metals trading and slowed imports into the country.

• CME HRC Steel last traded at $1079 and $1 higher at 5:55:07 AM

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