since March 2007, figures from the Labor Department showed April 1. “Sentiment is still pretty positive following the robust performance after last week’s data,” Yingxi Yu, an analyst at Barclays Capital, said from Singapore today. The metal used in construction and automobiles also advanced after Shanghai copper stockpiles fell for a second week and LME-tracked inventories slid for a 22nd straight session in the period to April 1. Trading may be influenced this week by comments from investors and executives at metals conferences in Santiago, including a dinner organized by a Chilean research group known as Cesco, or the Center for Copper and Mining Studies. “Volumes this week will probably be low, with many people out at Cesco, and we’ll probably get some direction from what people are talking about at the conference,” Yu said. Futures also climbed as the dollar fell 0.3 percent against a basket of six currencies, boosting the appeal of commodities as alternative investments. Copper surged 5.3 percent in New York last week as the Dollar Index fell 0.5 percent. Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange gained to a 20-month high of $7,939.75 a ton on April 1. To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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