Sumitomo Chief 'Was Told Of Lme Concern'

At that time, the copper market was in turmoil and traders blamed Sumitomo and its senior copper trader, Yasuo Hamanaka, for engineering a squeeze'' by taking tight control of most of the metal in London Metal Exchange authorised warehouses.

Hamanaka was dismissed in June this year and Sumitomo claimed he had lost $1.8 billion (