London copper prices rose on Friday as a US infrastructure deal raised hopes of better demand for metals in the coming years, although the gains were capped by weak consumption.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange advanced 0.4% to $9,459 a tonne by 0718 GMT, while the most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 0.5% to 68,700 yuan ($10,644.73) a tonne.
Copper for delivery in July fell 1% from Thursday鈥檚 settlement price, touching $4.269 per pound ($9,391 per tonne) midday Friday on the Comex market in New York.
Click here聽for an interactive chart of copper prices
Suppliers and steelmakers鈥� stocks surged after the announcement.
Caterpillar gained 2.6% after jumping as much as 3.8% in New York on Thursday, the most in three months. U.S. Steel Corp. climbed more than 3% and Nucor Corp., the largest US steel producer, rose 2%.
US President Joe Biden embraced a bipartisan Senate deal to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure projects, building roads, bridges and highways in an expanded effort to stimulate the American economy.
鈥淲e鈥檝e struck a deal,鈥� Biden said in a tweet.
鈥淎 group of senators 鈥� five Democrats and five Republicans 鈥� has come together and forged an infrastructure agreement that will create millions of American jobs.鈥�
鈥淏iden announced that he agreed to the infrastructure plan鈥�.but fundamentally, the current traditional peak season for copper is ending,鈥� Huatai Futures said in a report.
鈥淥n the supply side, treatment charges continue to rise and the impact of the state reserves release are superimposed.鈥�
China鈥檚 top copper smelters set their floor treatment and refining charges for the third quarter at $55 per tonne and 5.5 cents per lb, up from $53/5.3 cents in the first quarter, sources said.
(With files from Reuters)