SINGAPORE, June 26 (Reuters) - Copper is on track to post a
weekly loss on Friday, weighed down by a strong dollar and
continued macroeconomic concerns, though dip buying limited the
decline.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange fell 1% to $13,137 a metric ton by 0300 GMT.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures
Exchange stayed largely stable, edging up only 0.1% at
101,360 yuan ($14,900.84) a ton.
Copper was poised to end the week down by more than 3% on
both exchanges.
The U.S. dollar gained 0.09%, partially reversing
Thursday's decline and making greenback-denominated commodities
more expensive for buyers using other currencies.
Elsewhere, economic headwinds from the war in the Middle East
helped push a key U.S. inflation indicator to its highest level
in three years in May.
Inflation and higher interest rate expectations have
persistently weighed on growth-dependent industrial minerals.
Lower Shanghai copper prices brought some buying interest
back to the market on Thursday, providing support, Chinese
broker Jinrui Futures, a subsidiary of copper producer Jiangxi
Copper, wrote in a note.
China's Yangshan copper premium , which
reflects buying appetite in the world's largest consumer, rose
to its highest in three weeks.
Copper stocks on the LME continued to
decrease while stocks on the CME increased.
Material has been pulled into U.S. warehouses ahead of a
recommendation to President Trump to introduce tariffs on copper
imports, due next week.
Aluminium largely shrugged off jitters in this week's tentative
Middle East peace after a cargo ship said it was hit by a
projectile in the Strait of Hormuz.
On the LME, it dipped 0.32%, and on the SHFE,
it lost 0.59%. Prices for the light metal have fallen 6% on the
LME since the start of the week as the Middle East risk premium
receded.
Among other LME metals, zinc fell 1.31%, lead
lost 0.44%, nickel dropped 1.27% and tin
decreased 2.52%.
Elsewhere on SHFE, zinc lost 1.17%, lead
was little changed, up only 0.03%, nickel shed 1.91%
and tin fell 2.02%.
($1 = 6.8023 Chinese yuan renminbi)