BLBG: US copper below key support on grim economic data
U.S. copper futures steadied at slightly lower levels early Thursday after prices broke below key technical support in response to weaker-than-expected housing and employment data.
For detailed report on global copper markets, click on [MET/L]
* Copper for March delivery HGH9 fell 1.70 cent to $1.4165 a lb by 10:37 a.m. EST (1537 GMT) on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division.
* The morning range from $1.4065 to $1.4830.
* Larry Young, senior trader at Infinity Futures Inc. in Chicago, said the market was consolidating near its weekly lows, trying to develop a trading signal for Friday.
* Market keying on weekly signals: $1.5970 on the upside and $1.4130 support - Young.
* COMEX estimated futures volume at 4,300 lots by 9 a.m.
* COMEX copper breaks below key downside support in response to grim housing and employment data pointing to an acceleration in the economy's downward spiral.
* U.S. housing starts fell 15.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 550,000 units, the lowest on record, from an upwardly revised rate of 651,000 units in November - Commerce Department.
* First-time applications for state unemployment insurance benefits increased to a seasonally adjusted 589,000 in the week ended Jan. 17, from a revised 527,000 the prior week - the U.S. Labor Department.
* Copper prices mildly supported by data showing China's refined copper imports nearly doubled to a record 211,527 tonnes in December. [ID:nBJI000133]
* China's apparent refined copper demand rose 7 percent in 2008, according to Reuters calculations, but was down from 36 percent rise in 2007, and growth is expected to slow further this year. [nSP400387]
* Copper demand in the key Chinese market is likely to benefit from the country's economic stimulus package, Norddeutsche Affinerie (NAFG.DE), Europe's largest copper producer, said on Thursday. [ID:nLM111625]
* China's economic growth slumped to 6.8 percent last quarter, dragging down the pace of expansion for all of 2008 to a seven-year low of 9.0 percent, as the full force of the global financial crisis struck home. [ID:nSP223646]
* Copper further weighed down by another large influx of metal into London warehouses.
* London Metal Exchange copper stocks rose 4,975 tonnes to a fresh five-year high of 422,450 tonnes -- equivalent to more than a week of global copper demand.
