London: Copper prices eased on Thursday as volatile markets and a hit to metals demand from the coronavirus pandemic eclipsed the boost from a massive US stimulus package. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) had fallen 1.3 per cent to $4,829 a tonne by 1210 GMT. The metal, used as a gauge of economic health, has gained about 5 per cent over the last two sessions
The US Senate passed a $2 trillion bill aimed at helping unemployed workers and industries hurt by the coronavirus epidemic but it failed to rouse copper prices for long.
“So long as measures to contain the virus remain in place across much of the globe, there is nothing that policymakers can do to reverse the falls in copper prices,” said Capital Economics assistant commodities economist Kieran Clancy.
“That stimulus will only start to feed into stronger copper demand further down the line, once such measures are lifted.”
China’s refined copper cathode imports rose 7.9 per cent to 585,001 tonnes, from a year earlier, in the first two months of 2020, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the General Administration of Customs.
Mainland China reported no new locally transmitted cases of coronavirus for the sixth time in eight days but imported cases rose as Beijing ramped up controls to prevent a resurgence of infections.
Top copper miner Codelco said it would suspend construction of some projects including the Chuquicamata mine in a bid to halt the virus from spreading.
Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com