BLBG: Copper Advances for Second Day as Euro Gains on Greece Support
By Glenys Sim
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose for a second day, set for the first weekly gain in three, as the euro advanced against the dollar after European leaders agreed plans to help Greece clear its budget deficit.
Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 0.5 percent to $7,470 a metric ton at 10:53 a.m. in Singapore after earlier falling as much as 1 percent.
The Dollar Index, which measures the value of the greenback against six major currencies including the euro and yen, snapped a three-day rally today after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet softened earlier criticism of the aid plan for Greece.
“Metals market sentiment has been fickle,” David Moore, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney, said in an e-mail today. “Shifting perceptions of the implications of Greece’s fiscal issues remain a source of variability in financial and commodity market sentiment.”
May-delivery copper on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added as much as 0.2 percent to $3.3870 a pound, reversing an earlier drop of 1.3 percent. The June contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 1.3 percent to 60,080 yuan ($8,798) a ton.
The Dollar Index fell as much as 0.4 percent today, the most since March 16, as the euro rose from a 10-month low against the U.S. currency on speculation European leaders will announce an agreement on a rescue package for Greece, which has the region’s largest debt level, at the end of a two-day summit today.
Zinc fell 0.4 percent to $2,236 a ton, lead gained 0.1 percent to $2,080 a ton, and nickel added 0.1 percent to $22,850 a ton. Aluminum was little changed at $2,217 a ton, and tin climbed 1.1 percent to $17,650 a ton.
To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net