(April 2): Copper edged higher with most other metals after President Donald Trump handed out exemptions to his punishing tariffs on some products, nudging up sentiment across financial markets.

The US leader paused import levies on a suite of consumer electronics, including smartphones and memory chips, late on Friday. That provided temporary respite for markets as Trump’s trade policies sowed deep uncertainty. Still, by Sunday he was pledging to apply different, specific tariffs to phones, computers and popular consumer electronics.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell as much as 0.4% on Monday to its lowest since October, retreating for a fifth straight session as some traders remained sceptical about the tariff exemptions. Concern that the levies will trigger a global recession has spurred losses across commodities during the past month.

After its lowest close in close to 11 months on Wednesday, copper rallied late last week. It was trading 0.2% higher at US$9,169 (RM40,570.76) a tonne on the London Metal Exchange as at 10.50am (6.50pm Malaysia). Aluminium and nickel also gained. Meanwhile, Singapore iron ore futures edged 0.3% lower to US$96.85 a tonne.

Uploaded by Arion Yeow