Copper price slides as US bond yields jump

MINING.COM Staff Writer | March 19, 2021 | 9:35 am Markets Top Companies USA Copper

World’s biggest copper trader sees weak patch ahead

Production of copper wire. (Stock image)

Copper prices slid on Friday as the dollar firmed on the back of rising US Treasury yields.

Copper for delivery in May was down 0.21% by midday, with futures touching $4.099 per pound ($9,017 a tonne) on the Comex market in New York.

Yields on the US benchmark 10-year Treasuries soared to more than 1.75% a day after the US Federal Reserve projected the strongest growth in nearly 40 years and promised to keep interest rates low.

“Risk sentiment is definitely dampened with the rising US Treasury yield and a stronger US dollar in the short term, which definitely weighed on copper prices,” a Singapore-based copper analyst told Reuters.

Top mining stocks also fell as lower copper prices against a stronger dollar and rising bond yields weighed. BHP Group and Rio Tinto slipped 0.65% and 0.68%, respectively.

However, spot gold was up 0.2% to $1,739.90/oz, with US gold futures up 0.3% to $1,739.00/oz midday Friday.

(With files from Reuters)