Copper prices extend gains and scale fresh record highs

Copper prices rose on Monday at the Shanghai Exchange and hit fresh record highs.

Copper May futures at the Shanghai Exchange rose 2.1% today to a record 75.17 thousand yuan a tonne. 

Conversely, copper futures at the London Metals Exchange fell 0.6% to $9273.50 a tonne, after a 5.2% surge last week. 

However prices could be curtailed in the future as recent stellar US labor data could dissuade the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates soon, in turn hurting growth and demand on industrial metals. 

Investors await important US inflation data later this week, to gather clues about the path ahead for the Fed’s policies. 

Otherwise, aluminum futures fell 0.4% at the London Metals Exchange, while lead fell 0.6%, as zinc swooned 1.9%. 

The dollar index fell 0.1% as of 16:46 GMT to 104.2, with a session-high at 104.4, and a low at 104.1.

Copper futures due in May rose 0.8% as of 16:39 GMT to $4.27 a poun.