MMG LIMITED Dec 16 (Reuters) - London copper prices jumped 2% on Thursday, boosted by improved risk sentiment after the U.S. Federal Reserve struck an upbeat tone on economic recovery, while a halt to production at a major mine in Peru lifted supply concerns amid strong demand outlook.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 2.1% at $9,400.5 a tonne, as of 0540 GMT. In the previous session, the metal hit a low since Oct. 7 at $9,135.
The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed 0.1% lower at 68,590 yuan ($10,774.93) a tonne.
The positive increments from other channels of copper demand such as EVs, renewables and electrical network investment actually outweigh the drag from Chinese property and machinery, Goldman Sachs said in a note, while raising onshore demand growth for the metal to 4.5% from 3% in 2022.
This would put copper on an accelerated path to depletion, the bank added.
Copper, widely used in infrastructure projects, is often seen as a gauge of global economic health with China being its top consumer.
Lifting concerns over supply tightness, MMG Ltd said it will shut production at its Las Bambas copper mine in Peru from Dec. 18 after it failed to reach an agreement with the Peruvian community blocking a transport road used by the facility.
Meanwhile, on-warrant LME inventories
The U.S. central bank said it would end its bond purchases in March and pave the way for three quarter-percentage-point interest rate hikes by the end of 2022 as the economy nears full employment and the central bank copes with a surge of inflation.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME aluminium rose 1.4% to $2,634.5 a tonne, zinc climbed 1.5% to $3,320 a tonne, nickel advanced 1.5% to $19,405 a tonne and lead was up 0.9% at $2,305.5 a tonne.
* ShFE aluminium gained 0.5% to 19,205 yuan a tonne, nickel rose 0.4% to 142,950 yuan a tonne, lead eased 0.2% to 15,425 yuan a tonne and tin fell 0.7% to 281,400 yuan a tonne.
* China's finance ministry said on Wednesday it would raise the export tax on blister copper in 2022. A table published by the ministry showed the export duty on unrefined copper and copper anodes for electrolytic refining would double to 30% next year. China's exports of this category totalled just 122 tonnes in the first 10 months of this year.
* Regulators in Shanghai, including local branches of the People's Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, held meetings with some real-estate firms on Wednesday and on Dec. 9 offering to help the embattled industry, local media reported.
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($1 = 6.3657 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
