26 Jun 2025 @ 11:14 UTC

London Metal Exchange base metals prices all increased on Thursday, June 26, with traders regaining confidence given the seemingly robust US-brokered Israel-Iran ceasefire and a decline in warehouse stocks. Three-month futures prices at 9am on Thursday, compared with Wednesday’s 5pm close:
* Copper: $9,795.50 per tonne, up by 0.85%
* Aluminium: $2,576 per tonne, up by 0.49%
* Nickel: $15,220 per tonne, up by 0.96%
* Zinc: $2,740.50 per tonne, up by 1.31%
* Lead: $2,049 per tonne, up by 0.83%
* Tin: $33,345 per tonne, up by 0.46%
*
The US Dollar Index was 97.25 at 9:00am on Thursday and 97.88 at 5:36pm on Wednesday, with a weaker dollar tending to support higher prices on the LME.
Copper The London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month price for copper was $9,598.50 per tonne on Thursday morning, up by 0.85% since Wednesday’s 5pm close, with more bullish traders beginning to dip buy amid a significant lack of interest in selling.
Copper reserves in LME warehouses currently amount to 93,075 tonnes, having dropped by more than a third (37.3%) since June 2.
Red metal stocks have been tightening for some time, which is putting further pressure on prices.
Extremely low LME inventories, triple-digit nearby spreads of $360.75 per tonne, a backwardation on June 23 and [a record] discount in copper concentrate treatment charges indicate that the LME copper market is spiraling toward a period of severe tightness, Fastmarkets analyst Andy Farida said.
Only a monthly bullish close above $10,150 per tonne will enable more buying interest to emerge, he said.
A failure to clear above that level would only increase the likelihood that most of the bullish momentum has already run its course and that a clean break below the 20 MMA, at $9,100 per tonne, could trigger a sharp sell-off.”
Nickel Nickel prices rose by 0.96% to trade at $15,220 per tonne on Thursday, while nickel in LME warehouses currently amount to 204,216 tonnes.
Farida said the nickel price jump was a reaction to moves in the wider LME complex, adding: It’s almost like a herd mentality playing in the nickel space.
Traders have begun regain confidence because the Israel-Iran ceasefire appears to be holding.
The driver is due to the fact that copper is approaching $10,000 per tonne and the global economy is over a wall of worry, Farida said.
Zinc The galvanizing metal’s three-month price rose the most in percentage terms on Thursday morning to trade at $2,740.50; a 1.31% increase.
We’ve been hovering over the lows of the ranges, so this could be a bit of a relief rally, Fastmarkets analyst James Moore said, [but] there is still a lot of uncertainty on the broader macro picture.
Zinc stocks have tightened throughout the month, with LME warehouse inventories falling by 119,850 tonnes; a 13.2% decline since the start of the month.
While the macro fundamentals remain mixed… the tightening in LME inventories and rising funds positioning support the bullish turn in sentiment, Fastmarkets analyst Rory Deng said.