Copper Seen Finding Some Fundamental Support After TumbleMarket Talk

Copper prices should find some fundamental support at the $8,800/metric ton mark, "as it closely aligns with the cost of production for many Chinese smelters," Sucden Financial's Daria Efanova and Viktoria Kuszak say in a note. "We anticipate this level will hold, provided there are no further retaliatory measures from the U.S.'s key trading partners," they say. Still, sentiment in base metals has remained weak and the markets are strained, say Efanova and Kuszak. "It is difficult to accurately gauge the future direction of prices, with speculative noise clouding the fundamental picture," they say. LME 3-month copper is up 0.8% at $8,802/ton. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)