Jan 26 (Reuters) - Nonferrous metals traded largely mixed on Friday, but most were set for weekly gains on hopes of an improvement in demand from top consumer China following a raft of policy support.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.3% to $8,544.50 per metric ton by 0600 GMT, while the most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced 0.2% to 69,030 yuan ($9,621.58) a ton.
For the week, London copper was up 2.3%, on track for its biggest gain since November 2023, while SHFE copper was 2.1% higher and set for the sharpest jump since July last year.
China's central bank earlier this week announced a deep cut in the amount of cash banks hold as reserves and a Bloomberg report said Chinese authorities were considering mobilising about 2 trillion yuan to stabilise a slumping stock market.
"Base metal prices experienced modest gains over the past week, on the back of strengthened optimism for Mainland Chinese stimulus," BMI analysts said in a note.
However, uncertainty around China's economic recovery and a stronger U.S. dollar - which makes greenback-priced metals more expensive to holders of other currencies - put a cap on metals prices, they said.
"2024 will be a close tug-of-war between fundamentals and sentiment driven by macro factors," they added.
LME nickel was nearly flat at $16,695 a ton on Friday, lead declined 0.6% to $2,137.50, while aluminium rose 0.2% to $2,243.50, zinc advanced 0.5% to $2,591.50 and tin edged up 0.6% at $26,800.
SHFE aluminium rose 1% to 19,105 yuan a ton, nickel increased 0.8% to 130,880 yuan, zinc advanced 0.5% to 21,455 yuan, tin climbed 1.2% to 223,100 yuan, while lead fell 1.4% to 16,215 yuan.
LME lead was on track for a fifth straight weekly gain. The
premium of cash lead over the three-month contract
For the top stories in metals and other news, click or ($1 = 7.1745 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Subhranshu Sahu)
