METALS-Copper surges after Trump postpones military strikes on Iranian power plants

By Pratima Desai

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - Copper prices jumped on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he will order the U.S. military to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.

Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange traded 0.5% higher at $11,985 a metric ton in official rings.

It had hit a three-month low of $11,700 a ton earlier in the session after Iran said it would attack Israel's power plants and those supplying U.S. bases across the Gulf region if Trump carried out his threat to "obliterate" Iran's power network.

Traders said industrial metals were rising on the relief rally and a softer U.S. currency, which makes dollar-priced metals cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

However, elevated oil prices still threaten global growth prospects as they push up costs for households and businesses, fan inflation fears and dim hopes of rate cuts by central banks.

"The war, now in its fourth week, has pushed oil and gas prices higher, threatening to hurt economic activity worldwide and fuelling inflation that will likely force central banks to take a more hawkish stance on interest rates," Britannia Global Markets said in a note.

Also supporting sentiment were signs that demand might be recovering in top consumer China.

Stocks of copper in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell for the first time since December. The Yangshan copper premium, a gauge of China's appetite for importing copper, has climbed to $48 a ton from $42 on March 6.

Elsewhere, focus remains on aluminium - supported by concerns about disruptions from the Middle East, which accounts for around 9% of global supplies.

However, profit-taking on long positions is weighing on prices of aluminium used in the auto, construction and packaging industries, traders said.

Premiums 0#MAL: for nearby aluminium contracts against longer-dated forwards across the maturity curve suggest expectations of severe shortages.

Three-month aluminium CMAL3 firmed 0.2% to $3,220, zinc CMZN3 was flat at $3,068, lead CMPB3 rose 0.3% to $1,902, tin CMSN3 gained 0.7% to $43,600 and nickel CMNI3 added 0.2% to $17,050.