Copper Nears Record as Shanghai Stocks Hit Three-Year Low

Copper closed near its all-time high on Tuesday, extending gains to six straight sessions as Chinese buyers restocked ahead of back-to-back holidays and inventories in Shanghai and London kept draining. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange settled at $14,783 a metric ton, up 0.8%, leaving it $92 short of the $14,875 record set Sept. 10. Comex December copper hit $6.871 a pound, within 2 cents of its record settlement. Shanghai cathode stocks fell to 43,900 tons last week, the lowest since 2023, with SHFE inventories down 70% since early June. Spot cathode in Shanghai commanded a 1,375 yuan premium over SHFE futures Tuesday, up 550 yuan in a day. In London, cash copper settled at a $62 premium to the three-month contract Monday, flipping from an $86 discount a week earlier. Comex warehouses hold about 696,000 tons, roughly 69% of exchange-monitored copper. LME copper is up 18% this year and Comex 21%. The Fed's quarter-point hike last week still weighs on industrial metals, and traders await the Trump-Xi summit for trade signals.