Copper, nickel retreat after touching one-week highs

London

COPPER fell on Friday, retreating from a one-week high after a strong US dollar offset optimism stemming from top metals consumer China cutting interest rates to boost its slowing economy.

Prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) had surged after the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, cut interest rates for the sixth time in less than a year and again lowered the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves. But gains were short-lived after the US dollar index hit a two-month high, weighing on metals as it makes commodities priced in the US currency more expensive to buyers in other countries.