METALS-London copper firms on Chile supply concerns, rising stocks cap gains
By Brijesh Patel
Aug 6 (Reuters) - London copper prices edged higher on Wednesday after an accident at the top producer Codelco's COBRE.UL Chilean mine raised concerns over supply, though rising inventories on the London Metal Exchange capped gains.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was up 0.3% at $9,667 per metric ton, as of 0700 GMT.
However, the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 lost 0.3% to 78,280 yuan ($10,889.01) a ton.
Chilean state-run miner Codelco must produce four reports on the collapse at its El Teniente copper mine that killed six people after an earthquake last week, according to a government document seen by Reuters on Monday, before it can restart its underground operations there.
The El Teniente mine produced 356,000 tons of copper last year.
"Traders are now starting to re-export some of the record shipments they brought into the U.S. in a bid to gain from the higher prices. These disruptions to trade flows are overshadowing supply concerns in Chile," ANZ analysts said in a note on Wednesday.
Copper stored in LME-registered warehouses MCUSTX-TOTAL rose by 14,275 tons to a total of 153,850 tons, marking a gain of 70% since late June.
Last week, surprisingly weak U.S. jobs data triggered bets on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts from September that caused the dollar to weaken and made greenback-priced metals, such as copper, cheaper for holders of other currencies. USD/
Among other metals in London, aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.5% to $2,574.5 a ton, nickel CMNI3 advanced 0.5% to $15,100, lead CMPB3 gained 0.7% to $1,986.5, tin CMSN3 rose 0.4% to $33,385, and zinc CMZN3 climbed 0.5% to $2,771.5.
SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was up 0.8% at 20,650 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 was up 0.2% at 121,070 yuan, lead SPBcv1 gained 0.8% to 16,850 yuan, tin SSNcv1 climbed 0.3% to 266,930 yuan, and zinc SZNcv1 was up 0.3% at 22,370 yuan.
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