London copper edges higher as trade war fears recede
MELBOURNE, May 21 (Reuters) - London copper edged higher on Monday after a truce in a trade row between China and the United States soothed concerns the dispute could escalate, however headwinds from a stronger dollar capped gains. FUNDAMENTALS * COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged up by 0.2 percent to $6,869 a tonne by 0142 GMT, reversing small losses from the previous session. Prices have been caught in a tight $6,765-$6,900 range for the past week. * Shanghai Futures Exchange copper also edged up by 0.4 percent to 51,410 yuan ($8,062) a tonne. * TRADE: The U.S. trade war with China is "on hold" after the world's largest economies agreed to drop their tariff threats while they work on a wider trade agreement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday. * DOLLAR: The dollar edged up against the yen on Monday, after Mnuchin's comments, boosting risk sentiment amid hopes for an easing of trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies. * JAPAN ECONOMY: Japan's exports accelerated in April on increased shipments of cars and machines used to make semiconductors, suggesting healthy overseas demand could help the economy recover quickly from a dip in the first quarter. * CHINA ECONOMY: China's economy will likely expand around 6.7 percent in the second quarter this year, the State Information Center (SIC) said in an article in the state-owned China Securities Journal on Saturday. * COPPER: Vedanta Resources Plc's shutdown of its South Indian copper smelter, one of India's biggest, is causing a copper deficit and increased prices in India, its subsidiary Vedanta Ltd said on Friday. * RUSAL: vi sa di uc Rusal has not yet received any formal notice that sanctions target Oleg Deripaska has resigned from his board position at major Rusal shareholder EN+, the aluminium maker said on Monday. * For the top stories in metals and other news, click or MARKETS NEWS * U.S. stock futures jumped on Monday as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. trade war with China is "on hold" after the world's two largest economic powers agreed to drop their tariff threats while they work on a wider trade agreement. DATA AHEAD (GMT) 1230 U.S. National activity index Apr PRICES 0127 GMT Three month LME copper 6869.5 Most active ShFE copper 51430 Three month LME aluminium 2264.5 Most active ShFE 14810 aluminium Three month LME zinc 3106.5 Most active ShFE zinc 23970 Three month LME lead 2355 Most active ShFE lead 19770 Three month LME nickel 14655 Most active ShFE nickel 109070 Three month LME tin 0 Most active ShFE tin 145410 BASE METALS ARBITRAGE LME/SHFE COPPER LMESHFCUc3 368.14 LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM LMESHFALc3 -1999.5 4 LME/SHFE ZINC LMESHFZNc3 414.06 LME/SHFE LEAD LMESHFPBc3 696.25 LME/SHFE NICKEL LMESHFNIc3 -1822.5 ($1 = 6.3769 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Melanie Burton; editing by Richard Pullin)
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