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2 Minutes Read (Updates prices, adds details and quotes) Reuters, July 5 – Copper prices rose on Monday on optimism of higher metal demand and a sustained U.S. economic rebound after statistics showed an uptick in hiring in the world’s largest economy. As of 0528 GMT, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.5 percent at $9,427.50 a tonne, while the most actively traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.8 percent at 68,880 yuan ($10,659.24) per tonne. Companies in the United States recruited the most workers in ten months in June, raising wages and offering incentives to persuade millions of unemployed Americans to leave their homes, in a preliminary hint that the economy’s labor crunch was beginning to alleviate. “Strong demand for durable goods, a crucial sector for the metals markets, tends to follow wage rise,” ANZ analysts wrote in a report. * Global copper smelting activity fell in June following a month-long uptick, as Chinese plants halted for maintenance and nickel pig iron production increased, according to data from satellite surveillance of copper plants. * Antofagasta PLC, a Chilean miner, has inked contracts to provide copper concentrate to Chinese copper smelters at treatment charges in the mid-$50s per tonne in transactions that will last at least half of next year, according to sources. ShFE aluminium grew by 2.9 percent to 19,235 yuan per tonne, while nickel increased by 1.9 percent to 137,270 yuan per tonne and tin increased by 2.4 percent to 216,600 yuan per tonne. Aluminium inventories at ShFE warehouses AL-STX-SGH decreased to 278,383 tonnes, the lowest since February 10, while copper inventories CU-STX-SGH fell to 142,520 tonnes, the lowest since February 19. Meanwhile, copper stocks in China’s bonded warehouses SMM-CUR-BON increased to 435,600 tonnes, the biggest level since July 2019, according to SMM data. or$1 = 6.4620 yuan$1 = 6.4620 yuan$1 = 6.4620 yuan$1 = 6.4620 yuan$1 = 6.4620 yuan$1 Mai Nguyen contributed reporting from Hanoi, while Amy Caren Daniel and Sherry Jacob-Phillips edited the piece./nRead More

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