Copper eased on Wednesday after notching a three-week high earlier in the session as US inflation data put a rate hike this month back on the radar and boosted the dollar, while aluminium slipped below US$3,000 ($4,314.65) to its lowest since December 2025.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.6% at US$14,484.50 a tonne as of 16:00 GMT. It earlier rose to US$14,700, its highest since 23 September.
US consumer prices accelerated last month amid a surge in gasoline costs, prompting traders to reassess the outlook for Federal Reserve policy and sending the dollar to an 18-month high. A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated metals more expensive for investors using other currencies.
The CME’s FedWatch tool now shows the probability of a rate hike in late October at 41.5%. Higher interest rates are usually negative for industrial metals prices because they tend to slow economic growth and mean higher financing costs.
The possibility of a strike at BHP’s (ASX:BHP) Escondida copper mine, the world’s largest, has been supporting copper prices, but two sources told Reuters on Wednesday that the supervisor’s union and company representatives have reached a preliminary agreement.
Chile’s Centinela copper mine and two striking unions returned to the negotiating table on Tuesday, while Codelco has partially suspended operations at its El Teniente mine after a fatal landslide.
The International Copper Study Group forecasts that the global refined copper market will record a roughly 104,000-tonne surplus in 2026, widening to a 368,000-tonne surplus next year.
Aluminium was down 1.7% at US$2,986.50, after sinking below the US$3,000 support level and hitting US$2,978, its lowest since 31 December last year, on signs of emerging oversupply.
Zinc fell 0.4% to US$3,715, lead lost 0.2% to US$1,898, nickel shed 0.2% to US$15,550 after also touching its lowest since December, and tin fell 3% to US$50,210, after hitting its weakest since 30 June.
(Reporting by Tom Daly; additional reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru and Eric Onstad; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Mrigank Dhaniwala, Vijay Kishore and Tasim Zahid)
Main Image: Pixabay
