Copper falls to five-week low as LME inventory build continues

LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Copper fell to its lowest in more than five weeks on Thursday as further inflows into London Metal Exchange warehouses eased some supply fears, even though expectations of regional supply bottlenecks persisted outside the US.

Benchmark three-month copper on the LME was down 1.7% at $14,106.50 a metric ton as of 0948 GMT. It earlier hit $14,076, its lowest since September 16.

Copper stocks in LME warehouses climbed for a fourth day after 29,050 tons of inflows on Wednesday, chiefly in the US storage hub of New Orleans. Total LME copper stocks now stand at 272,950 tons, the highest since July 24, after earlier flows into New Orleans and Baltimore this week.

Alastair Munro, senior metals strategist at broker Marex, said the recent build in LME copper stocks was the result of the COMEX premium shrinking as contract delivery dates draw closer.

Traders have been shipping copper to the U.S. COMEX exchange for much of this year, attempting to head off potential import tariffs on the metal, pushing COMEX prices higher than LME prices.

However, the front of the curve now shows COMEX trading at a discount to the LME, encouraging flows on to the LME instead. The backwardation on the LME - a market structure where prices for prompt delivery are higher than those further forward - has also incentivised deliveries.

The cash LME copper contract was last trading at a $86 a ton premium to the three-month forward .

In top metals consumer China, the Yangshan copper premium - a gauge of appetite for imported copper - rose to $148 a ton on Wednesday, its highest since October 2022.

Elsewhere, stock market angst in technology markets weighed on the industrial metals complex.

Aluminium shed 0.9% to $3,012.50 a ton, zinc lost 1.2% to $3,711, lead dipped 0.5% to $1,900, nickel slid 0.3% to $16,180 and tin dropped 1.6% to $50.450.