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FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed 0.3 percent to $7,267.50 a tonne by 0113 GMT. The contract ended 2017 with an annual 31 percent price gain, reaching prices last seen in January 2014 after peaking at $7,312.50 on Dec. 28, according to Reuters data.
* SHFE: The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was trading 0.3 percent lower at 55,430 yuan ($8,519) a tonne
* COPPER TREATMENT CUT: China’s copper smelters on Friday lowered the floor for their treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) in the first quarter of 2018 by 8.4 percent, signaling tighter supply of copper concentrate in the first three months of the New Year.
* ALUMINUM REFINERY GO-AHEAD: Guinea’s government has approved a more than $2.8 billion investment by Chinese company TBEA Co Ltd in a new bauxite mine, an aluminum refinery and an aluminum smelter, the mines ministry said on Friday.
* SAFETY WARNING: Shanghai has issued a warning on the safety of metal products manufactured by scandal-hit Japanese firm Kobe Steel Ltd and strengthened scrutiny measures, state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the city’s inspection body.
OTHER METALS: With the exception of lead, the remainder of active ShFE base metals contracts were firmer, led by nickel, up nearly 2 percent, with aluminum up 1.2 percent and tin rising 1.3 percent. Zinc was 1 percent higher.