LME copper closes up $82 at $14,084/t; nickel and cobalt fall

The session splits the battery-metals complex from the rest of the base metals: copper, aluminium, zinc and tin firmed while nickel and cobalt — the two most exposed to EV supply chains — sold off hard. That divergence matters because it suggests the weakness is specific to battery demand and inventory rather than a broad macro risk-off move. Whether nickel and cobalt keep decoupling from copper is the open question, since a sustained gap would signal shifting sentiment on the energy transition trade.