Nickel declines on supply concerns, Copper surges to 7-month high

Minerals were mixed on Wednesday with nickel prices declining amid expectations of increased supplies, while copper prices scaled seven-month highs after Chinese smelters agreed to cut production. 

Copper three-month futures at the London Metals Exchange touched $8799 a tonne, the highest since August 2023, trading 1.6% higher.

Copper scaled two-year high at the Shanghai futures exchange at 70,460 yuan a tonne.

A group of Chinese copper smelters agreed to decrease production in an attempt to boost prices. 

Smelters have been facing losses in China in recent months, which explains the new move, however, there are new global copper smelters scheduled to go online soon with a capacity of over 1.7 million tonnes a year, which could complicate prices. 

Prices were also weighed down by a recent surge in inventories monitored by the SHFE CU-STX-SGH to 239,245 tonnes by March 8. 

As for aluminum, it fell 0.3% at the London Metals Exchange to $2258.5 a tonne, while nickel shed 1.4% to $18295, as zinc rose 0.3% to $2567 a tonne, while lead rose 0.8% to $2162, while tin rose 0.3% to $27595. 

Otherwise, the dollar index fell 0.1% as of 16:14 GMT to 102.8, with a session-high at 103.02, and a low at 102.7. 

Nickel spot prices fell 1.5% as of 16:24 GMT to $17,856 a tonne.