Copper price fell on Friday, hit by profit-taking and risk-off sentiment in wider financial markets on worries about surging inflation.
Copper for delivery in March retreated on the Comex market in New York, touching $4.5080 per pound ($9,917 per tonne), down 3.2% compared to Thursday鈥檚 closing.
Read also: Goldman sees copper price 鈥渂reakout鈥�, risk of 鈥渆xtreme scarcity episode鈥�
Global stock markets fell after US consumer prices showed the biggest annual increase in 40 years, which is expected to prompt tighter monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve.
鈥淭oday it鈥檚 really risk-off sentiment in financial markets and the dollar is up based on yesterday鈥檚 CPI. There鈥檚 also likely some profit-taking after the run-up we鈥檝e seen,鈥� said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.
鈥淚n terms of the bigger picture, there鈥檚 a general cooling of the economy in China. Infrastructure and property are both key in terms of driving metals demand and we do not expect a quick reversal in either.鈥�
[Click here聽for an interactive chart of copper prices]
Menke forecasts LME copper to ease to $9,500 a tonne in three months and to $8,750 in 12 months.
The Yangshan copper premium, an indication of physical demand in China, slid to $38 a tonne on Friday, the weakest since July last year and down from $102 two months ago.
Goldman Sachs believes the copper market has just two years of primary production growth left.聽
In this week鈥檚 report, Goldman reiterated its bullish forecast for copper to average $11,875 a tonne ($5.40/lbs) in 2021, rising steadily to $15,000 ($6.80/lbs) during 2025.
($1 = 6.3593 Chinese yuan)
(With files from Reuters)