Copper headed for its first weekly loss since June on concern the US is pushing back a decision on whether to impose import tariffs. Futures steadied after losing 3.6% in London on Thursday, drawing back from a record earlier in the session. A Reuters report that US officials are weighing concerns higher local prices for the metal could raise manufacturing costs triggered the reversal.

For the week, prices are more than 1% lower. Copper traders have diverted hundred of thousands of tons into the US hoping to profit from a tariff-driven spike in domestic prices, should a levy on refined-metal imports be introduced by the Trump administration. Optimism over rising demand driven by data centers and renewable energy, as well as supply setbacks at key mines, have also bolstered investor buying. "The recent rally appears to have extended beyond fundamentally justifiable levels," analysts at BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, said in a note. "The tariff uncertainty continues to run high." The metal — along with other assets — faces a test later Friday with the release of the US consumer price data.

Any signal inflation is picking up would lift expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates, which is typically a headwind for non-yielding assets such as copper. Benchmark copper futures were steady at $14,238 a ton on the London Metal Exchange at 9:42 a.m. in Singapore. The metal’s cash-to-three-month spread flipped to $10.65 a ton in contango — a bearish pattern — on Thursday, from almost $42 a ton in backwardation — the opposite structure — the day before.

Other metals were little changed, with zinc down 0.2%.