METALS-Shanghai copper hits near five-month high on China stimulus hopes

By Anushree Mukherjee

March 7 (Reuters) - Shanghai copper rose to its highest in nearly five months on Friday, amid hopes of further stimulus from top consumer China and concerns about U.S. tariff on copper imports.

The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 jumped 0.4% to 78,390 yuan ($10,820.47) a ton by 0654 GMT, its highest since early-October 2024.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday suspended the 25% tariffs imposed this week on most goods from Canada and Mexico until April 2, the day he has threatened to impose a global regime of reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading partners.

Trump has announced 25% tariffs on aluminium and steel from March 12 and ordered a probe into possible new tariffs on copper.

The latest announcement on copper imports made a case of front loading, which is pushing copper prices higher, said Soni Kumari, a commodity strategist at ANZ.

There is optimism around China's stimulus measures, which is also supporting the market, Kumari said.

China on Thursday left the door open for more stimulus measures on top of those announced at this week's annual parliament meeting if economic growth veered off track.

Market participants expect China's National People's Congress to announce more stimulus measures as the Sino-U.S. trade war heats up.

Meanwhile, China's imports unexpectedly shrank over the January-February period, while exports lost momentum, as escalating U.S. tariff pressures cast a shadow over recovery in the world's second-largest economy.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was little changed at 20,830 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 gained 0.3% to 23,980 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 climbed 1.5% to 129,740 yuan. Lead SPBcv1 advanced 0.4% to 17,450 yuan and tin SSNcv1 firmed 2.1% to 262,730 yuan.

In contrast to the Shanghai contract, the three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) CMCU3 fell 1.2% to $9,621.5 a metric ton.

LME aluminium CMAL3 fell 0.5% to $2,684 a ton, zinc CMZN3 lost 1% to $2,899.5, nickel CMNI3 slipped 0.6% to $16,205, lead CMPB3 slipped 1% to $2,027.5 and tin CMSN3 eased 0.3% to $32,485.

($1 = 7.2446 yuan )