Market and product

London copper prices edged down on Wednesday, as the lack of any clear moves to resolve the protracted U.S.-China trade conflict weighed on the demand outlook for the red metal.

China’s foreign ministry reiterated on Tuesday that it had not heard of any recent telephone call between the United States and China on trade, and said it hopes Washington can stop its wrong actions and create conditions for talks.

FUNDAMENTALS

* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged down 0.1% to $5,677 a tonne by 0234 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced 0.5% to 46,570 yuan ($6,565.81) a tonne.

* PRICES: London zinc and lead fell 0.6% each, while other metals were almost unchanged. Shanghai aluminium rose 0.5%, nickel fell 0.5% while zinc increased 0.9% and lead rose 1%.

* CHALCO: Aluminum Corp of China Ltd,, known as Chalco, said on Tuesday its revenue rose 15.2% despite a 10% drop in the primary aluminium segment.

* NICKEL: Rapidly rising use of nickel in the batteries that power electric vehicles over coming years means higher prices are needed to incentivise the development of new projects to boost supplies of the metal.

* RARE EARTH: The U.S. Department of Defense is in talks with Australia to host a facility that would process rare earth minerals, part of an effort to reduce reliance on China, a senior American official said. - Reuters -