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Informist, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025

 

By Ashutosh Pati

 

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of copper on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange rose Wednesday on the back of firm demand in China and the US, according to analysts. Market sentiment was also lifted by concerns about supply of the metal.

 

"Base metals are trading with a positive bias today (Wednesday), led by LME Copper, which is up nearly 1% at around $11,700 per tonne, holding close to multi-month highs. Prices continue to draw support from robust demand in China and the United States, the world's two largest consumers," Kotak Securities said in a report.

 

In China, steady growth in electric vehicles, power grids, and renewable energy infrastructure is underpinning consumption, while in the US, an artificial intelligence-driven investment cycle is boosting demand for copper-intensive data centers and transmission networks, the brokerage said.

 

Meanwhile, in the US, non-farm payrolls increased by 64,000 jobs last month. The economy lost 105,000 jobs in October, the steepest decline since December 2020. The fall was tied to a drop of 162,000 jobs in federal government employment, the most since June 2010. The Labor Department's highly observed employment report released on Tuesday indicated that the unemployment rate in the US hit an over four-year peak of 4.6% last month. This has raised expectations of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve next year and is also supporting copper prices.

 

At 1624 IST, on the MCX, the December futures contract of:
-–ALUMINIUM was at INR 281.45 a kg, up 0.5%
--COPPER was at INR 1,112.30 a kg, up 0.6%
–-LEAD was at INR 180.55 a kg, down 0.3%
–-ZINC was at INR 304.25 a kg, up 0.4%

 

The January futures contract of NICKEL was at INR 1,292.70 a kg, down 0.3%

 

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 276.50-INR 286.00
--Copper contract seen at INR 1,080.80-INR 1,140.80
--Lead contract seen at INR 178.80-INR 182.00
--Zinc contract seen at INR 293.70-INR 313.00

--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,290.00-INR 1,300.00

End

 

US$1 = INR 90.38

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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