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Informist, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026

By Reshma Ravi

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of copper fell on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange Friday due to easing concern about potential US tariffs on critical minerals. US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was pausing tariffs for rare earths, lithium and other key minerals, which weighed on sentiment, even as copper remained in the US critical minerals list, Kedia Advisory said in a note. 

"After concerns over US tariffs eased, market focus shifted to economic data. Strong initial jobless claims data, coupled with intensive remarks from several US Fed officials emphasising the priority of fighting inflation, maintaining tight policies, and low probability of near-term interest rate cuts, pushed the US dollar higher and put pressure on copper prices," Shanghai Metals Market said in a report. The US Labor Department Thursday said that initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 198,000 for the week ended Saturday. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast 215,000 claims. 

Base metals dropped after China tightened restrictions on high-frequency trading, analysts at Kedia Adviosry said. China announced a crackdown on high-frequency trading as part of broader efforts to reduce risks in its capital markets. "The pullback follows last week's record-setting rally and was exacerbated by China's move to tighten oversight of high-frequency trading, prompting sharp sell-offs across Shanghai, London, and New York markets," Kotak Securities said. 

At 1629 IST, on the MCX, the January futures contract of:

--ALUMINIUM was at INR 316.90 a kg, down 0.6%
--COPPER was at INR 1,296.25 a kg, down 0.9%
–-LEAD was at INR 191.80 a kg, down 0.1%
–-ZINC was at INR 316.15 a kg, down 5%

The February futures contract of NICKEL was at INR 1,705.00 a kg, down 1%

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 313.00-INR 320.00

--Copper contract seen at INR 1,282.00-INR 1,310.00
--Lead contract seen at INR 189.00-INR 193.00

--Zinc contract seen at INR 312.00-INR 320.00

--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,620.00-INR 1,780.00

End

US$1 = INR 90.86

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

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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