A falling dollar lifts all commodities
Commodities traded on the frontfoot as the US dollar gave back some ground following remarks from German chancellor Angela Merkel (and ahead of a key speech from US central bank chief Janet Yellen the next day) alongside supportive newsflow for various specific segments of the market.
In a rare comment on the European Central Bank's policy decisions, just after noon Reuters reported that Merkel told Bavarian industry representatives: "we're not yet back where we want to be in terms of the ECB's monetary policy."
Hence, as of 1911 BST Bloomberg's commodity index was standing 0.81% higher at 83.03, while the US dollar spot index was 0.32% lower to 95.72.
Strike action at mines in Chile and Peru were cited by traders as a specific trigger for gains in metals' prices.
"Prices were underpinned by looming strike action in both Chile and Peru and the afternoon saw the USD weaken slightly which added to momentum. During the p.m session copper traded up to 5885 area in choppy conditions and zinc made a fresh attack on resistance," said traders at Sucden Financial Research.
Overnight, nearly all of the workers at Antofagasta's Zaldivar mine in Chile had backed labour action in a vote.
That saw three-month LME traded copper furures rise from $5,830 per metric tonne to $5,875 by the close of London trading. Similarly-dated contracts for aluminium, nickel and zinc all gained too.
Weighing on the greenback further, later in the session the son of US president Donald Trump published the electronic mails which showed him discussing a possible meeting to hear damaging information about Hillary Clinton from someone with possible links to Moscow.
That news sent propped up futures in the yellow metal, which were ahead by 0.18% to $1,215.30/oz..
To take note of, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing's new gold contracts began trading on Tuesday.
"London Metal Exchange traded a third of this volume on its system which also went live today. The two HKEX platforms trade 24 hours a day and could turn HK into a global gold trading hub while allowing Chinese currency RMB deposits to trade in gold," said analysts at SP Angel.
Crude oil futures were also wanted, with West Texas Intermediate up by 1.19% to $44.93 on NYMEX.
Helping to stoke interest in crude, the International Energy Agency trimmed its projection for US oil output in 2018 from 10.01m barrels a day to 9.9m b/d while urging investment in long-cycle projects as opposed to mainly short-cycle plays such as shale oil.