Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) shares rose 3.8% to 527.4p after the commodities group revealed its trading arm was set to deliver an adjusted operating profit of around $3.3 billion for the first half.
This would be not far from the top end of its earnings guidance of $3.5 billion for the whole year.
The strong performance from the marketing division came during a period marked by sharp commodity-price swings and disruption from the Middle East conflict.
Chief executive Gary Nagle said Glencore expected to report the strong half-year earnings alongside a robust production performance across its mining operations.
Own-sourced copper production increased 15% to 397,000 tonnes, driven by higher mining rates and improved grades at its African operations and Antamina. This helped cut net cash costs at its copper assets to 183.9 cents per pound from 225.1 cents.
Glencore left its full-year copper guidance unchanged at 810,000-870,000 tonnes despite completing the sale of the Kidd mine in June. The group said this amounted to a like-for-like upgrade, as the forecast no longer includes about 11,000 tonnes of expected Kidd production.
Zinc guidance was also maintained at 700,000-740,000 tonnes, although first-half output fell 21% following the closure of Lady Loretta, lower grades at Antamina and the Kidd disposal.
Cobalt production dropped 46% as Glencore prioritised copper under the Democratic Republic of Congo's export-quota regime.
The energy coal forecast was raised by one million tonnes to 96-101 million tonnes following stronger Australian production. Steelmaking coal guidance was narrowed to 30-32 million tonnes from 30-34 million tonnes.
Nagle said key assets had "largely performed in line with expectations".
