WSJ:BASE METALS: Shanghai Copper Inches Down Tracking Equities
SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--Copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined slightly Monday in thin trade, tracking weakness in Chinese equity markets in the absence of directional cues from the London Metal Exchange.
While there is no fresh news coming out of Europe, concerns remain over the region's sovereign debt problems and its contagion effect on the global economy. Worries over a slowing Chinese economy also weighed on investor sentiment.
The benchmark March copper contract settled 0.1% lower at CNY55,390 a metric ton.
The red metal rose initially, in line with LME gains Friday on the back of spillover pro-risk sentiment from equities in pre-holiday trade.
But copper soon gave up all gains as worries over a slowing domestic economy and a traditional year-end liquidity crunch weighed on investors' confidence.
"Europe and the domestic economy are the two main problems plaguing investors for quite some time, and they will continue to remain on investors' minds unless there's some breakthrough coming out of Europe. Copper may continue to trade tracking sentiment on the macro front," Shanghai Cifco Futures analyst Fang Junfeng said.
Fang tipped SHFE copper to move in a wide range of CNY52,540-CNY58,000/ton over the next few sessions.
Copper traded at the Changjiang Nonferrous Metals Trading Market, a major spot metals market in Shanghai, was quoted at CNY55,400-CNY55,600/ton compared with CNY55,500-CNY55,650/ton Friday.
Three-month LME copper ended Friday's PM kerb $105 higher at $7,640/ton. The LME is closed Monday and Tuesday for the Christmas break and will reopen Dec. 28.
Benchmark aluminum fell 0.2% and lead was down 0.8%, while zinc lost 1.6%.
Monday's settlement prices in yuan a ton and LME late kerb prices from Friday in dollars a ton:
Metal SHFE LME
Copper Mar 55,390 Down 80 3Mo 7,640 Up 105.0
Aluminum Mar 15,850 Down 35 3Mo 2,016 Down 2.0
Zinc Mar 14,725 Down 240 3Mo 1,855 Up 5.0
Lead Feb 15,150 Down 125 3Mo 2,019 Up 19.0
-Yue Li contributed to this article; Dow Jones Newswires; (8621) 6120 1200; yue.li@dowjones.com
