BLBG: Copper Gains in Shanghai on Rising Equities, U.S. Bank Aid
Copper futures climbed in Shanghai, paring the week’s losses, after Asian equities gained on speculation of another Chinese stimulus package and on improved investor sentiment as Bank of America Corp. nears an agreement on federal aid.
Prices gained as the biggest U.S. bank by assets may receive an aid package from the U.S. that may include $15 billion to $20 billion in capital, said a person familiar with the matter. Still, Shanghai copper is down 1 percent this week as a weakening global economy cuts demand.
“The market will take direction from spillover optimism in other markets and we’ll continue to see investors buying on dips,” Yuan Fang, a trader at Shanghai East Asia Futures Co., said today. “We’re not going to see any major rallies in the near-term as demand continues to be weak, while poor economic data weighs on sentiment.”
Copper for April delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 2.9 percent to 27,150 yuan ($3,971) a metric ton, and traded at 27,030 yuan by 1:30 p.m. local time. London Metal Exchange copper was up 1.3 percent at $3,321.25 a ton at the same time.
Asian stocks rose, paring the benchmark index’s steepest weekly loss in two months, as the weaker yen boosted Japan’s electronics and auto producers and speculation grew China will pass another stimulus package. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1.2 percent to 84.06 as of 12:32 p.m. in Tokyo.
Stimulus Package
China’s National Development & Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry & Information Technology will review a stimulus package today to help machinery companies, Shanghai Securities News reported, without citing anyone.
China faces an economic “hard landing” with growth slowing to 6 percent or less this year, the weakest pace since 1990, Fitch Ratings said today.
That would be less than half of the 13 percent pace that pushed China past Germany to become the world’s third-biggest economy in 2007, according to revised Chinese statistics released this week.
Among other LME-traded metals, aluminum, zinc and lead were all little changed at $1,485, $1,268, and $1,150 a ton respectively. Nickel and tin had not traded as of 1:33 p.m. in Singapore.
