METALS-Copper rises to 2-month high on supply worries, weaker dollar

Nov 21 (Reuters) – Copper prices rose to two-month highs on Tuesday, buoyed by supply concerns in Peru and Panama amid protests and planned maintenance, while a weaker US dollar also lent support.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 rose 0.3% to $8,459 per metric ton by 0149 GMT, having leaped to $8,459 earlier in the session, the highest since Sept. 15.

The most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 advanced 1% to 68,550 yuan ($9,506.18) a ton, the highest since Sept. 21.

Workers at Las Bambas copper mine in Peru will kick off an “indefinite” strike from next week, and First Quantum Minerals FM.TO will carry out maintenance at its Cobre Panama mine from Nov. 23 due to coal supplies being blocked by protesters.

The dollar index .DXY hit its lowest since Sept. 1 on the expectation that US interest rates would fall next year, making greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.

LME aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.5% to $2,256 a ton, nickel CMNI3 edged up 0.3% at $17,000, zinc CMZN3 advanced 1% to $2,588, lead CMPB3 was up 0.5% at $2,286.50 and tin CMSN3 increased 0.8% to $25,070.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 increased 0.5% to 19,030 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 was up 0.7% at 21,520 yuan, while leading SPBcv1 fell 0.7% to 16,990 yuan and tin SSNcv1 shed 0.4% to 209,220 yuan.

SHFE nickel hit a 14-month low of 133,030 yuan a ton. The contract is down 33% so far this year, the worst performer across all base metals on the SHFE due to oversupply concerns.

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(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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