METALS-Copper rises on strong demand prospects in China; Iran war caps gain
April 7 (Reuters) - Copper rose on Tuesday with the prospect of stronger demand in China, even as investors remained cautious over the Middle East war as Washington's deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz loomed.
The benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.55% to $12,428 a metric ton as of 0706 GMT.
The most-active copper contract SCFcv1 on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 0.34% to close at 96,560 yuan ($14,049.38) a ton.
Copper stocks monitored by SHFE CU-STX-SGH have been declining since March 20, the exchange's weekly stock report showed.
They have declined more than 30% since March 13 to 301,088 tons as of Friday, a sign of stronger demand as prices dropped over growth and inflation fears instilled by the Iran war, and ahead of China's peak demand season.
The Yangshan copper premium SMM-CUYP-CN, a gauge of China's appetite for imported materials, held at $65 a ton as of Friday after hitting $69 on March 25, the highest since June 2025.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump's Tuesday 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT) deadline to the Iranian leadership to open the Strait of Hormuz nears. Iran pushed back against Trump's threats to rain "hell" on Tehran.
Brent futures LCOc1 sustained above $110 a barrel and the U.S. dollar =USD ticked upwards, putting pressure on the base metal complex and capping copper's gains.
Aluminium rose as Gulf supply concerns persisted.
The London benchmark aluminium CMAL3 climbed 1.08% to $3,507 a ton. But the Shanghai most-traded contract SAFcv1 dipped 0.30% to 24,630 yuan a ton.
Emirates Global Aluminium said on Friday that fully restoring production at its Al Taweelah smelter in the UAE, which was hit by an Iranian attack late last month, could take up to a year.
Elsewhere on the LME, zinc CMZN3 gained 0.98%, lead CMPB3 rose 0.34%, nickel CMNI3 dropped 0.18% and tin CMSN3 nudged 0.16% higher.
Among other SHFE base metals, zinc SZNcv1 added 0.21%, lead SPBcv1 dipped 0.09%, nickel SNIcv1 lost 0.78% and tin SSNcv1 shed 0.48%.
($1 = 6.8729 Chinese yuan renminbi)
