London copper firmed on Tuesday, remaining close to the over one-week high reached in the previous session, helped by recent exemptions from U.S. tariffs and hopes for more stimulus from top consumer China to help boost economic growth.
The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.2% at $9,206.5 a metric ton as of 0106 GMT. It hit its highest level since April 4 on Monday.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose 0.4% to 76,170 yuan ($10,417.27) per ton.
U.S. excluded smartphones and other electronics from its tariffs on China over the weekend, and after President Donald Trump added new wrinkles to his vacillating trade policy on Monday by suggesting he might grant exemptions on auto-related levies already in place.
However, the White House announced investigations into whether imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors threaten national security, potentially leading to tariffs on these products.
Copper gained after Trump handed out exemptions to his reciprocal tariffs. The pause on import fees on consumer electronics provided a temporary respite for markets after Trump’s trade policies sowed deep uncertainty, said Daniel Hynes, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank.
Meanwhile, China’s imports of unwrought copper and copper products in March declined 1.4% from a year earlier to 467,000 tons, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Monday.
Market participants are expecting more stimulus measures from Chinese authorities to bolster consumption and cushion the economic impact of an escalating trade war with the United States.
SHFE aluminium eased 0.2% to 19,675 yuan a ton, zinc lost 0.2% to 22,415 yuan, lead retreated 0.5% to 16,830 yuan, nickel was up 0.5% at 123,590 yuan, tin fell 0.1% to 259,530 yuan.
LME aluminium gained 0.4% to $2,382.5 a ton, lead fell 0.2% to $1,913, tin was up 0.6% at $31,450, zinc rose 0.1% to $2,638.5 and nickel rose 0.2% to $15,330 a ton.
