Copper traded near a 10-month high in London and is poised for its longest string of weekly gains since April as the global economic recovery increases demand.
Copper was little changed after jumping as much as 4.2 percent yesterday on reports showing the economies of Germany and France unexpectedly expanded in the second quarter. A phase of rapid growth in metals and energy demand in major industrial nations may be imminent, Barclays Capital analysts including Gayle Berry said in a report e-mailed today.
“Economic recovery in Europe and the U.S. is the key driver of copper prices, though the metal has been climbing much faster than the economy could rebound,” said Edward Fang, an analyst at China International Futures (Shanghai) Co. “There’s no correction in sight before London copper may top $6,600.”
Three-month delivery copper dipped 0.3 percent to $6,360 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange at 12:25 p.m. in Singapore. It earlier climbed as much as 1.6 percent to $6,480, the highest since Oct. 1.
Copper for November delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed as much as 2.8 percent to 51,290 yuan ($7,506) a ton, the highest since Sept. 26. It last traded at 49,900 yuan.
Oil and metal prices jumped yesterday after reports showed the French and German economies expanded 0.3 percent from the first quarter. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had predicted declines.
A day earlier, the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates “exceptionally low” for an extended period, acknowledging signs that the worst recession since the 1930s may be ending.
China Demand
Copper futures in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal used in plumbing and power transmission, gained 82 percent the past six months. LME prices gained 91 percent the same time.
Shanghai prices “trended weaker than London” after record imports swelled domestic supplies, Fang said from Shanghai.
China’s imports of copper and copper products fell for the first time in six months in July, declining 15 percent from record levels reached in June. Industrial production last month rose 10.8 percent from a year earlier, the nation’s statistics bureau said Aug. 11.
The “key concern” for metal markets is whether increased demand from developed countries will come quickly and strongly enough to offset an anticipated slowdown in China’s commodity imports, Barclays said.
While there are risks around China’s second-half demand, they should not be “blown out of proportion in relation to the backdrop of strong underlying demand,” the bank said.
“There is plenty of evidence that China’s growth recovery has surprised on the upside,” the analysts wrote.
UBS AG last month said China’s copper imports may plunge 64 percent in the second half as stockpiles may have exceeded industrial demand by as much as 700,000 tons.
Among other LME-traded metals, nickel climbed 0.2 percent to $20,650 a ton and aluminum fell 0.4 percent at $2,051 a ton. Lead dropped 1.8 percent to $1,900 a ton, zinc slid 1.6 percent to $1,880 a ton and tin fell 1.6 percent to $14,910 a ton.
Source: Bloomberg
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