Industrial metals rose on Monday, with copper prices hitting 29-month highs and aluminium scaling a fresh 20-month peak, on optimism around demand in top metals consumer China.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange jumped 2.6% to $7,161.50 a tonne by 0708 GMT, after touching $7,179 earlier in the session, its highest since June 14, 2018.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed 3.2% higher at 53,640 yuan ($8,156.19) a tonne, after hitting 53,800 yuan earlier in the day, its highest since June 15, 2018.
China’s industrial output rose at a faster-than-expected pace in October, mirroring strong metals consumption in the world’s second-largest economy.
Copper and aluminium were also supported by last week’s data showing declines in inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai exchange, analysts said.
London aluminium rose as much as 0.7% to $1,945 a tonne, its strongest since March 20, 2019. Shanghai aluminium climbed to a three-year peak at 15,585 yuan a tonne, before ending down 0.3% at 15,390 yuan.
“The relative strength between the two markets saw the aluminium arbitrage briefly turn positive for China to import,” commodity strategists at ING said in a note.
“This could suggest that the strong imports we have seen since (the second quarter) may repeat themselves in November if traders have seized this opportunity.”