Copper climbs to $13,937 as AI stock rally pulls industrial metals up with it
Copper rose 0.3% to $13,937 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange by late morning in Shanghai, extending its rebound from last week's slump as the metal moved in step with a rally in technology shares.
The link is physical: copper feeds the power infrastructure and data centres behind the artificial intelligence build-out, and the metal has traded in tandem with AI stocks in recent months. Last week it fell 2.7% to a three-month low as investors weighed whether the Democrats' sweep of the US midterm elections would bring tighter regulation of AI.
Stocks advanced on Tuesday, with South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi the top performer in Asia. In China, a supply squeeze drove spot premiums to record levels, and Jinrui Futures said the tightness was drawing in more imported cargoes as traders exploited an arbitrage window to bring metal in from overseas at a profit.
Aluminium slipped 0.3% to $3,058.50 a tonne, though investors were watching a major shortage in the global market as stockpiles decline. Buyers face rising spot prices with little relief expected before new shipments from Indonesia arrive. Iron ore fell 0.2% to $92.55 a tonne in Singapore.
