Copper drifts toward 9-year high on demand outlook, defies firm dollar

Copper drifts toward 9-year high on demand outlook, defies firm dollar

Benchmark LME copper edged higher on Wednesday, hovering around 2012 highs on optimism about a global economic recovery that bodes well for metals demand, against the backdrop of tightening supply. Extending its rally into a fourth consecutive session, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 0. 3 percent to $8, 432. 50 a ton in early trade. It hit $8, 437 on Tuesday, its strongest level since May 2012. Copper, which is often used as a gauge of global economic health, defied a firmer US dollar that usually dampens the appeal of greenback-priced metals. WASHINGTON: Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, newly selected head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), said Tuesday she will push for concrete results in addressing the dual economic and health crises facing the globe. Her immediate goals are to ensure vaccines are produced and distributed worldwide, not just for rich nations, and to resist the push toward protectionism that worsened during the pandemic, so that free trade can help the economic recovery. "I think the WTO is too important to allow it to be slowed down, paralyzed and moribund," she told AFP in an interview. "That's not right." She will take over leadership on