Antofagasta stock gains as copper hits record and molybdenum output drops
Published on 09/08/2026 at 22:09 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Antofagasta plc stock (ISIN GB0000456144) advanced strongly on September 8, 2026, with the shares closing around 4,081.00 pence in London after a gain of 4.70 percent in the session, according to market data from Investing.com as copper prices hit record levels on the London Metal Exchange.
Copper rally drives Antofagasta stock higher
The main immediate driver for Antofagasta stock on September 8, 2026, was a fresh record in three-month copper prices on the London Metal Exchange, which reached around 14,617.00 US dollars per tonne and supported miners as a group, according to Proactive Investors.
In that environment, Antofagasta shares were highlighted as among the best performers in the FTSE 100, with the stock up between 2.69 percent and 4.70 percent during the session and trading around 4,003.00 to 4,081.00 pence, based on intraday updates from Proactive Investors and closing data from Investing.com.
Recent price performance and trading range
Market data show that Antofagasta stock had most recently confirmed a prior close of 3,898.00 pence on September 7, 2026, on the London Stock Exchange, representing a 0.43 percent decline on that day, before rebounding sharply on September 8, 2026, as reported by Investing.com UK.
This move from 3,898.00 pence to 4,081.00 pence implies that the stock added 183.00 pence or 4.70 percent in one trading day, taking the shares back into the upper part of their recent trading band, according to closing figures cited by Investing.com.
Intraday data for the earlier session show that on September 7, 2026, Antofagasta shares traded in a range between 3,859.00 pence at the low and 3,931.00 pence at the high, with a turnover of around 334,000 shares, illustrating moderate volatility within the established corridor of prices, according to Investing.com UK Beyond the immediate price action, investors are also weighing operational data for Antofagasta’s by-product molybdenum output in the first half of fiscal 2026, which showed a notable decline compared with the prior year, according to a flash update from Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) published on September 8, 2026. In the Los Pelambres operation, molybdenum production in the first half of fiscal 2026 fell by 17 percent to 4,700.00 tonnes from 5,700.00 tonnes in the comparable period a year earlier, with the company attributing the drop primarily to lower ore grades at the mine, according to SMM. At the Centinela unit, first-half fiscal 2026 molybdenum output declined by 18 percent to 1,400.00 tonnes from 1,700.00 tonnes in the previous year’s first half, again mainly due to weaker ore grades in the copper-molybdenum ore streams, as reported by SMM. Taken together, these figures indicate that total molybdenum production from the two main copper-molybdenum operations decreased by several hundred tonnes year-on-year in the first half of fiscal 2026, underlining a specific operational challenge even as copper prices provide a strong macro backdrop. For investors, the combination of record copper prices and weaker molybdenum output means that Antofagasta’s revenue mix is shifting more heavily toward copper at a time when the benchmark metal is trading at historically high levels, while contribution from the molybdenum by-product has come under pressure due to grade-related issues noted in the first half of fiscal 2026. With three-month copper above 14,600.00 US dollars per tonne and Antofagasta stock moving from 3,898.00 pence to over 4,000.00 pence in a single session, the market appears to be focusing more on the upside from copper than on the downside from molybdenum volumes for now, as suggested by the strong gain in the shares recorded on September 8, 2026, according to Investing.com and Proactive Investors. However, the reported 17 percent to 18 percent declines in molybdenum output at Los Pelambres and Centinela in the first half of fiscal 2026 underline that ore-grade trends remain a key risk factor in Antofagasta’s operational profile, since lower grades can affect both unit costs and the volume of salable by-products, according to the production commentary summarized by SMM. Antofagasta’s core business is centered on large-scale copper mining operations in Chile, with Los Pelambres and Centinela among its most important assets for both copper and molybdenum output in the portfolio. In the first half of fiscal 2026, these operations jointly produced several thousand tonnes of molybdenum but saw year-on-year decreases of 17 percent and 18 percent respectively, which suggests that the mines are currently encountering ore-grade variability that can be typical in mature open-pit operations and that needs to be managed carefully to sustain overall production levels and profitability over time, as reflected in the first-half production update reported by SMM. For investors following Antofagasta stock, the operational developments at Los Pelambres and Centinela in the first half of fiscal 2026 provide an important backdrop to the strong share-price reaction to record copper prices, since they show how the company’s key assets are performing beneath the headline macro trends and where production risks may emerge. As of the close on September 8, 2026, Antofagasta stock traded at approximately 4,081.00 pence on the London Stock Exchange, based on data from Investing.com, standing notably above the prior day’s close of 3,898.00 pence and reflecting a daily gain of 4.70 percent in the latest completed session.Molybdenum production drops in H1 fiscal 2026
Balancing strong copper prices and grade risks
Representative copper operations and product context
Stock price and market snapshot
Key data on Antofagasta stock
