Copper climbed for a second day after the European Central Bank and international policy makers coordinated to lend dollars to banks to help tame the credit crisis, boosting demand prospects for industrial metals. Three-month delivery copper on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 0.5 percent to $8,750.25 a metric ton and traded at $8,728.25 at 10:51 a.m. Tokyo time. Prices have fallen 1.1 percent this week, a second weekly drop. On Sept. 14, the metal touched $8,590, the lowest price since Aug. 11. The ECB said it coordinated with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank to extend three-month loans to euro-area banks in an effort to ensure they have enough cash for the rest of the year. The leaders of France and Germany confirmed this week they will support Greece’s continued participation in the euro currency. “It’s a relief rally,” Peter Richardson, chief metals economist at Morgan Stanley Australia Ltd., said today. “I don’t think this is an indication that the problem is solved. It’s simply that they bought a bit of time in my view to try and put together more lasting solution to this problem.” Asian stocks rose as much as 2 percent today, paring the regional benchmark index’s decline this week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced for a fourth day, rising 1.7 percent yesterday. Indonesia, Peru In Indonesia, about 8,000 non-staff workers at Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s Grasberg mine began a one-month strike, union official Virgo Solossa said Sept. 15. Freeport doesn’t see a short-term effect on output from a strike at its Cero Verde mine in Peru, Bruce Clemens, an official at the unit, said yesterday at a conference in Peru. “Clearly the strike in Grasberg, which is scheduled to run for a month with 70 percent of their employees, is potentially a quite important additional factor in a market where we had over 500,000 tons of production lost already this year,” Richardson said. Copper for November delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.7 percent to 65,500 yuan ($10,261) a ton. Aluminum gained 0.3 percent to $2,380.50 a ton, zinc rose 0.2 percent to $2,192.75 a ton, while lead was little changed at $2,387.50 a ton. Tin climbed 0.9 percent to $23,600 a ton, while nickel lost 0.3 percent to $21,725 a ton. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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