May 7 (LTIT) –A rebound in futures prices of copper sidelined downstream consumers on the morning of Tuesday May 7, after their post-holiday demand release on Monday May 6.

Limited arbitrage opportunities also weighed on speculative demand. This, together with sufficient supplies, pushed spot sellers to lower premiums.

Spot copper offers stood mostly at a premium of 10-110 yuan/mt against the SHFE front-month May contract this morning. This compared with a premium of 30-140 yuan/mt on the previous trading day on Monday May 6.

Compared with early trades this morning, sellers lowered premiums by some 10 yuan/mt at noon, to 10-20 yuan/mt for standard quality copper, and to 100 yuan/mt for high-quality copper. Offers of hydro-copper also dropped to a discount of 60-40 yuan/mt this morning.

On Tuesday May 7, the SHFE 1905 contract ended at 48,310 yuan/mt at the end of the morning trading session, up 420 yuan/mt from that time on May 6.

At noon on Tuesday May 7, high-grade copper traded at 48,400-48,450 yuan/mt and standard-quality copper traded at 48,300-48,360 yuan/mt.