BEIJING, April 4 (Reuters) - Shanghai base metal prices
mostly fell on Wednesday after the United States announced fresh
tariffs on 1,300 Chinese products, including some metal
products, escalating a trade row with China, which has vowed to
respond.
FUNDAMENTALS
* SHFE COPPER: The most-traded May copper contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange, which has risen for five
trading days in a row, was flat at 50,410 yuan ($8,019.28) a
tonne by 0154 GMT.
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange was up 0.2 percent at $6,810.50 a tonne,
extending a 1.2 percent gain in the previous session.
* OTHER METALS: The four other key base metals in Shanghai
were all in negative territory amid trade war fears, led by zinc
, which was down 1 percent at 24,660 yuan a tonne, while
aluminium and lead were both down 0.5 percent.
* UNITED STATES: The Trump administration on Tuesday raised
the stakes in a growing trade showdown with China, announcing 25
percent tariffs on some 1,300 industrial technology, transport
and medical products to try to force changes in Beijing's
intellectual property practices.
* TRADE: China's commerce ministry said on Wednesday it
"strongly condemns and firmly opposes" the proposed U.S. tariffs
following the Section 301 probe and will take counter measures,
according to the official Xinhua news agency.
* CHINA: China's services sector growth eased to a
four-month low in March as new business and employment grew at a
slower rate, a private business survey showed, pointing to
cooling demand in a sector Beijing is counting on to maintain
economic growth.
* CHILE: Caserones copper mine in Chile said on Tuesday that
it would temporarily shut down its copper concentrator in order
to replace a leaking pipe.
* LITHIUM: Representatives of Chinese lithium giant Tianqi
met with Chile's top anti-trust prosecutor less than a month
after Chilean authorities moved to block the miner from buying a
coveted stake in Chile's SQM, Chile's lobbyist transparency
website showed on Tuesday.
* ALCOA: Aluminium producer Alcoa Corp said on
Tuesday it had signed contracts to transfer Canadian pension
obligations and assets worth $555 million to three insurers, in
a move to strengthen its balance sheet.
