This Wednesday, copper prices stayed virtually unchanged. Demand slowed before the nine-day vacation of Lunar New Year in China.

Copper, the main commodity traded on the Stock Exchange of Shanghai futures fell by 0.10% to 101,760 yuan (14,721.58 dollars) per metric ton at 03:20 GMT.

The three-month copper reference price on London Metal Exchange was unchanged at $13,108 per ton.

The share of Chinese-made copper in stocks of the LME fell in January as the stock exchange became the place of choice traders from the United States and the rest of Asia seeking to store the metal. However, inventories of Chinese origin still increased monthly in absolute value, from 8.77% to 95,150 tons, against 87,475 tons in December.

While copper stocks followed by the SHFE On Friday, copper stocks hit their highest level since March, American Comex continued to record daily inflows, reaching a record level of 536,563 tons.

Among the other base metals in SHFE, nickel led the gains, up 3.85% to 139,140 yuan per ton.

LME nickel also rose, recording an increase of 1.69% to 17,785 dollars per ton. This strength of nickel is explained by the Indonesian project to reduce its extraction quotas for nickel in 2026.

Elsewhere on the SHFE, aluminum rose by 0.25 %, zinc 0.43%, lead 0.33% and tin 2.22%.

Among the other metals of LME, aluminum increased by 0.55%, zinc by 0.28%, lead by 0.15% and 0.44% tin