HANOI, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Shanghai copper prices leaped to a near 10-year high on Thursday, while other base metals also gained as the U.S. Federal Reserve reaffirmed its loose monetary policy to support growth in the world’s largest economy.
The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 4.5% to 70,740 yuan ($10,967.27) a tonne, a level unseen since March 2011.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit its highest since August 2011 of $9,617 a tonne, only 5.6% below its record high level of $10,190 a tonne hit in February that year.
Aluminium also climbed, with Shanghai prices jumping as much as 6% to a 9-1/2-year high of 17,635 yuan a tonne, while the LME contract was trading up 2.31% at $2,234.50 a tonne at 0514 GMT.
Fed’s chair Jerome Powell said it may take more than three years to reach the central bank’s inflation goals, a sign the central bank plans to leave interest rates unchanged for a while, against market expectations that it would tighten monetary policy soon.
“Copper, aluminium and tin are storming ahead after Powell’s bullish comments to support the economy and there is a mix of supply tightness underpinning these particular metals,” said commodities broker Anna Stablum of Marex Spectron.
“Copper sees multi-lows treatment charges. China will struggle to produce enough aluminium in a carbon free world and tin is well benefiting with massive demand and difficulties in the supply chain,” Stablum added.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME tin rose 0.8% to $26,920 a tonne while ShFE tin climbed 2.7% to 194,050 yuan a tonne. ShFE nickel advanced 3.2% to 147,130 yuan a tonne and LME nickel increased 0.6% to $19,825 a tonne.
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($1 = 6.4501 yuan)
(Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Vinay Dwivedi)
Source: Reuters