Copper falls on stronger dollar, easing supply pressure
Aug 19 (Reuters) - Copper fell on Thursday as a strong dollar made greenback-priced metals cheaper for holders of other currencies, while easing supply disruptions also pressured prices.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.2% to $9,029 a tonne by 0318 GMT, while the most-traded September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 2.3% to 67,300 yuan ($10,364.37) a tonne.
The dollar rose to a nine-month high versus the euro and Australian and New Zealand currencies, with Federal Reserve policy makers mostly in agreement that a stimulus taper would start this year.
Residents near MMG Ltd's Las Bambas copper mine in Peru lifted the blockade of a road used to transport the metal, while operations resumed at Teck Resources Ltd's Highland Valley Copper operations in Canada after a wildfire evacuation order was lifted, easing copper supply pressure.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME nickel fell 0.6% to $18,775 a tonne, lead rose 0.4% to $2,298.50 a tonne and tin climbed 0.5% to $35,565 a tonne.
* ShFE aluminium declined 1.6% to 19,989 yuan a tonne, nickel dropped 2.4% to 140,770 yuan a tonne, zinc dropped 1% to 22,440 yuan a tonne while lead rose 0.8% to 15,445 yuan a tonne.
* Yangshan copper premium <SMM-CUYP-CN> rose to $82 a tonne, its highest since August last year and a near four-fold jump from the 2021 low level of $21 hit in June, indicating improving demand to import the metal into top consumer China.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares fell after minutes from the U.S. central bank's last meeting showed the increasing prospect of reduced monetary stimulus this year.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
1230 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly
1230 US Philly Fed Business Indx August
($1 = 6.4934 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi)
