Overnight, U.S. markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday, yet geopolitical tensions in the Middle East kept energy prices elevated, with Brent crude settling 1.1% higher at a six-week peak and WTI advancing 1.3%. Meanwhile, copper prices stormed to unprecedented levels, with LME copper breaking through $14,610 per tonne intraday to mark an all-time high, bringing its year-to-date gain to 17%.

Market participants are increasingly betting on the prospect of expanded U.S. tariffs on refined copper imports, which, combined with supply disruptions in Chile and sustained stockpiling by American buyers, has intensified the tightness in the global copper market. In parallel, the People's Bank of China extended its gold-buying spree to a 22nd consecutive month, with official data showing gold reserves climbing to 76.73 million ounces at the end of August, up 650,000 ounces from the prior month.

The August increase followed a 640,000-ounce gain in July and a 480,000-ounce rise in June, underscoring the central bank's sustained pace of accumulation at elevated levels. After months of market adjustments, leading global investment banks and asset management firms are returning to the gold market with rare unanimity, signaling renewed institutional confidence in the precious metal.

The non-ferrous metals sector faces near-term macro headwinds, including expectations of further Fed rate hikes, but the underlying fundamentals remain supportive. Tight supply-demand dynamics, strong interim earnings growth, and valuations sitting at historically mid-to-low levels collectively reinforce the sector's medium-to-long-term investment appeal. Industry experts generally recommend a buy-on-dips approach to navigate short-term volatility while capturing the recovery opportunities driven by industrial trends.

On today's trading session, copper industry leaders took center stage, with the HuaBao Non-Ferrous Metals ETF (159876) seeing copper-related names dominate the top 10 performing constituents, capturing nine of the top spots. North Copper Co.,Ltd. surged more than 9% to lead the pack, while Jiangxi Copper advanced over 6% and Yunnan Copper climbed more than 5%. Other notable gainers included ZIJIN MINING and Luoyang Molybdenum, which followed the upward momentum.

Looking at the earnings front, the sector's profitability has been nothing short of impressive. All 60 constituent stocks of the HuaBao Non-Ferrous Metals ETF (159876) have reported profits for the 2026 interim results. In terms of net profit attributable to parent companies, Zijin Mining Group Company Limited, Luoyang Molybdenum, and Aluminum Corporation of China led the way with 39.17 billion yuan, 16.15 billion yuan, and 11.87 billion yuan respectively. Notably, nearly half of the constituents—28 stocks—posted year-on-year net profit growth exceeding 100%, with Tianqi Lithium recording an extraordinary surge of nearly 50 times and Sinomine Resource Group posting growth of over 11 times.

Unlike previous non-ferrous metal cycles that relied heavily on the property sector, industry analysts point out that the current upcycle combines both cyclical price appreciation benefits and incremental demand from emerging industries. The ongoing advancement of AI, semiconductor technologies, and national defense initiatives is driving sustained demand for related non-ferrous metals, suggesting the sector's earnings resilience is likely to persist.

In the era of computing power, non-ferrous metals form the foundation. Different metals exhibit varying levels of prosperity, pace, and growth drivers, making divergence inevitable. For investors bullish on the broader non-ferrous metals space, a straightforward approach is to gain full coverage through a diversified vehicle to better capture the sector's beta. The HuaBao Non-Ferrous Metals ETF (159876) and its linked funds (Class A: 017140, Class C: 017141) track an index that comprehensively spans copper, aluminum, rare earths, gold, lithium, tungsten, molybdenum, and tin sectors, offering full-spectrum exposure across precious metals, industrial metals, energy metals, and strategic minor metals. Key weightings include industry leaders such as Zijin Mining Group Company Limited, Luoyang Molybdenum, China Northern Rare Earth, Aluminum Corporation of China, and Zhongjin Gold. Additionally, the ETF serves as a margin trading and securities lending target, making it an efficient tool for one-click deployment into the non-ferrous metals sector.

Source: Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, as of September 8, 2026. Fee disclosure: Investors purchasing or redeeming fund shares may be charged a commission of up to 0.5% by the authorized agency. On-exchange trading fees are subject to actual charges by securities firms. The ETF does not charge sales service fees. For the linked fund fee structure: Class A shares charge a subscription fee of 1% for amounts below 1 million yuan, 0.6% for amounts between 1 million and 2 million yuan, and a flat 1,000 yuan for amounts of 2 million yuan or above. Redemption fees for Class A are 1.5% for holdings of less than 7 days and 0% for 7 days or longer, with no sales service fee. Class C shares charge no subscription fee, a 1.5% redemption fee for holdings under 7 days and 0% thereafter, along with a 0.3% annual sales service fee.

Risk disclosure: The HuaBao Non-Ferrous Metals ETF passively tracks the CSI Non-Ferrous Metals Index, with a base date of December 31, 2013, and a release date of July 13, 2015. Index constituent composition adjusts according to index compilation rules, and historical backtest performance does not predict future index performance. The fund manager has assessed the fund's risk level as R3-moderate risk, suitable for balanced (C3) and above investors; suitability matching opinions are subject to sales institution confirmation. Any information appearing in this article (including but not limited to individual stocks, commentary, forecasts, charts, indicators, theories, and any form of expression) is for reference only. Investors must bear full responsibility for their own investment decisions. Furthermore, any views, analyses, or forecasts in this article do not constitute investment advice of any form to readers, nor do they bear any liability for direct or indirect losses arising from the use of the content. Fund investment carries risks. Past performance of a fund does not represent its future performance, and the performance of other funds managed by the fund manager does not constitute a guarantee of fund performance. Investors should exercise caution when investing in funds.