Copper hovers near five-month lows

Copper prices hovered near a five-month low on Tuesday as an escalation of the US-China trade war reinforced concern about demand for industrial metals while the weaker dollar provided some support.

China on Tuesday warned that its companies operating in the United States could face harassment from US law enforcement agencies. It also rebuffed US criticism of a trade white paper as “singing the same old tune”.

“There are fears that the US-China trade war will dampen the global economy and that it might fall into recession,” said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann. “These macro factors are in play even if fundamentals may be pointing to higher prices.” Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange ended 0.8 per cent higher at $5,878 a tonne but was still close to the Jan 4 low of $5,801 touched on Monday.