(Updates prices, adds charts)<\/p>\n
June 30 (Reuters) – Copper prices on Wednesday were set for their weakest quarterly gain since March 2020 on pressure from a firmer dollar and top consumer China\u2019s efforts to tame a red-hot metals rally.<\/p>\n
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.5% to $9,376.50 a tonne, as of 0748 GMT, and gained 6.7% for the quarter. The contract has lost 8.6% in June, on track for its first monthly fall in three.<\/p>\n
The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 0.2% to 68,390 yuan ($10,588.98) a tonne, also set for the weakest quarterly gain since March 2020 when China\u2019s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic aided prices of metals.<\/p>\n
Copper prices have pulled back in recent weeks after hitting a record high in May on the back of a global economic recovery, rising investments into renewable energy and electric vehicles, as well as a tight supply outlook.<\/p>\n
Some of the pressure has come from China, with the world\u2019s second-largest economy releasing state reserves of copper, aluminium, and zinc as part of its pledge to control a recent surge in commodities prices.<\/p>\n
Strength in the dollar on expectations of sooner-than-anticipated policy tightening in the United States has also made greenback-priced metals more expensive and less appealing to holders of other currencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the next quarter, it will be all about how much demand from the rest of the world will be able to offset a slowing China. Most of that will depend on the success of finally getting the virus under control and seeing supply chains recover,\u201d said commodities broker Anna Stablum of Marex Spectron.<\/p>\n
\u201cAluminum has got a chance to outperform as the environmental restrictions in China will continue to weigh on supply and it seems like the nickel market looks pretty tight,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
* Global demand of nickel used in batteries is expected to rise 18% this year from 2020, backed by strong sales of electric-vehicles in China, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Japan\u2019s biggest nickel smelter, said.<\/p>\n
* LME nickel rose 0.5% to $18,455 a tonne, while lead rose 1% to $2,329 a tonne. ShFE lead jumped 4.3% to 16,050 yuan a tonne while ShFE aluminium declined 0.3% to 18,800 yuan a tonne.<\/p>\n
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($1 = 6.4586 yuan)<\/p>\n