Copper hovers near 11-week low as midterm risk-off lingers

By Solomon Cefai

SINGAPORE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Copper ticked down on Wednesday as the previous day's broad risk-off mood continued and US midterm election results kept coming in.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.99% at $13,897 a metric ton by 0300 GMT. The price touched $13,883 — its lowest since August 19 — on Tuesday.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.81% to 107,230 yuan ($16,076.22) a ton.

Markets are closely watching the election results for their impact on US fiscal policy, AI regulation and the US-Iran conflict.

Democrats notched early Senate wins, fuelling bets they could wrest control of the chamber from President Donald Trump's Republicans, though the final outcome remained uncertain.

Japan's Nikkei .N225 and South Korea's technology-heavy KOSPI .KS11 index both fell sharply on Wednesday, on concerns that Democrat gains could slow AI infrastructure spending.

"Copper is a key metal in the infrastructure buildout and has tracked AI stocks higher over the past 12 months," Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ, said in a note.

Losses were nonetheless cushioned by supply tightness outside of the US. In the biggest consumer, China, the Yangshan premium - a gauge of demand for imported copper - stayed at $200 a ton, close to its highest in over a decade.

A potential tariff on US imports of refined copper has pulled material into the country's warehouses, thinning inventories elsewhere.

In October, 207,000 tons of copper were imported into the US, the second-highest monthly import volume this year, Barbara Lambrecht, commodity analyst at Commerzbank, said in a note citing IHS Markit.

Among LME metals, aluminium lost 0.48%, zinc dipped 0.22%, lead dipped 0.27%, nickel dipped 0.24% and tin dropped 2.6%.

Among SHFE metals, aluminium lost 0.45%, zinc lost 0.47%, lead lost 0.88%, nickel lost 0.81% and tin dropped 4.5%.

($1 = 6.6701 Chinese yuan)