News wire – Copper, aluminium, zinc, nickel and tin are up by between 12% and 27% in 2020, with several near multi-year highs. Lead has lagged, up by only around 2.5%, according to Reuters report.
A bullish mood among investors and optimism about the outlook for demand are boosting prices, Capital Economics analyst Samuel Burman said.
“Nevertheless, we think that industrial metals prices will fall next year as we expect slower demand growth in China and the rollout of coronavirus vaccines to allow mine supply to rebound,” he added.
Copper hovered near its highest since 2013 on Christmas eve and other industrial metals rose as investors bet on strong demand next year and stock markets rallied as the European Union and Britain agreed a trade deal.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange, LME, was flat at $7,840.50 at 1705 GMT, not far below the previous week’s peak of $8,028.
Other base metals were up by between 0.8% and 1.3%.
Metals have rallied this year, supported by Chinese demand, government stimulus to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and a wave of speculative buying.
