LONDON Copper prices rose in London on Wednesday, as support from a weaker US dollar offset concerns about demand from top metals consumer China, while aluminium was steady, as it kept digesting new Russian metal restrictions.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was 0.4% higher at US$9,507.00 per metric tonne as of 1034 GMT, reversing Tuesday’s declines caused by slower-than-expected China’s industrial output growth.

The metal, used in power and construction, is up 11% since the start of 2024, after its March-April rally drove the price to US$9,640.50, the highest level since June 2022, on Monday.

The dollar edged down but was still close to its 5-1/2-month high, after Federal Reserve officials reiterated that interest rates are likely to stay higher for longer. Weaker US currency makes dollar-denominated metals more attractive to buyers using other currencies.

LME aluminium was unchanged at US$2,561 a tonne, as the market kept digesting the US and Britain's move to ban the LME and CME from accepting newly produced Russian aluminium. Aluminium touched US$2,728, a 22-month high, on Monday.

"The market went above US$2,700; it should not have ever been there. Huge overreaction. So it's just normalising," said a trader.

Uncertainty about post-sanctions changes for overall Russian supply and delivery to the LME-registered warehouses may still cause some volatility in the metal in coming days, said ING commodities analyst Ewa Manthey.

"However, we think the market will adapt to the new dynamics, while Russian material will continue to find new sanction-neutral buyers," she added.

For now, LME data showed that investors gave notification over the last two days that they wanted to remove nearly 90,000 tonnes of aluminium from the warehouses in Gwangyang, South Korea, which traders say is a popular location to store Russian material.

Zinc rose 0.8% to US$2,792.50, lead gained 0.2% to US$2,150.50, tin was steady at US$31,785, and nickel added 1.5% to US$17,980.

  - Reuters