Copper nudges upward on weaker dollar, despite slowing demand ahead of China holiday

Copper prices climbed on Wednesday on a weaker dollar, though demand slowed ahead of China's nine-day Lunar New Year break that begins over the weekend.

The most-active copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed daytime trading up 0.31% to 102,180 yuan ($14,782.77) a metric ton.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange ‌climbed 0.31% to $13,155 ⁠a ⁠ton as of 0300 GMT. The dollar hit its lowest since January 30, making greenback-priced commodities more ​affordable for investors using other currencies.


Elsewhere, demand in top consumer China has slowed after last ​week's restocking activities and the approaching break, Chinese broker Galaxy Future said in a note.

Demand will only pick up in March in China, traders said.

Meanwhile, ​copper stock levels continued to rise. China-made copper's share ⁠in LME ‌stocks fell in January as the bourse became the go-to ​place for ​traders from the U.S. and the rest of Asia looking ⁠to store the metal. China-origin stocks still posted a month-on-month ​rise, in absolute terms, up 8.77% to 95,150 tons.

SHFE-monitored copper ​stocks rose to the highest since March on Friday, the U.S. Comex copper stocks advanced to a record 536,563 tons.

Among other SHFE base metals, nickel led gains, up 4.02% to 139,360 yuan a ton. LME nickel rose 1.94% to $17,830 a ton.

Indonesian local media reported late on Tuesday that the ‌top nickel producer has so far approved nickel mining quotas of around 260 million to 270 million metric tons for 2026.

"In ​both coal and ​nickel, the Indonesian ⁠government has moved to reduce mining permits in 2026, which could lead to lower volumes being produced and exported," Jim Lennon, Managing Director of Commodities Strategy at Macquarie ​Group in a note.

Elsewhere on SHFE, aluminium added 0.49%, zinc gained 0.57%, lead advanced 0.39%, and tin climbed 3.27%.

Among other LME metals, aluminium rose 0.68%, zinc added 0.62%, lead nudged 0.18% higher and tin was up 1.77%.

($1 = 6.9121 Chinese yuan renminbi)