Copper erased losses, gaining alongside other commodities including oil and gold, as geopolitical tensions escalated. Aluminum and nickel reached their highest levels since 2008.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 0.3 percent to $9,887 a metric ton and traded at $9,885 at 2:28 p.m. in Singapore. The metal earlier fell as much as 0.8 percent after China’s central bank on Feb. 18 announced an increase in reserve requirement ratios for a second time this year after lending surged and inflation accelerated.
“While tightening in China remains a big concern, losses are being limited today by gains in other commodities such as oil,” Zhang Hao, an analyst at Hengtai Futures Co., said from Shanghai.
Copper futures in New York gained as much as 0.4 percent to $4.514 a pound and last traded at $4.51, erasing an earlier drop of 0.7 percent. May delivery metal on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed for the first time in five days, by as much as 1.2 percent to 74,730 yuan （$11,375） a ton.
Copper in London climbed to a record $10,190 a ton on Feb. 15, extending last year’s 30 percent rally, on expectation that demand may outpace supplies as the global economy recovers. The world may be short of 435,000 tons of refined copper this year, according to the International Copper Study Group.
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