WSJ:BASE METALS: Shanghai Copper Drifts Lower In Thin Trade
SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--Copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange drifted lower in rangebound trade Tuesday, as investors were reluctant to take fresh positions in holiday-thinned trade.
The benchmark March copper contract settled 0.5% lower at CNY55,140 a metric ton.
Without fresh news coming out of the euro zone, Shanghai copper was tracking Chinese equities, with profit taking going on although the red metal was still trading within recent ranges.
"It's the year-end, so there's always some liquidity pressure and usually we won't see a lot of buying going on," Shanghai Cifco Futures analyst Fang Junfeng said.
Traders said declining open interest shows participants exited positions to lock in profits ahead of the New Year holiday and that concerns remain over a slowing domestic economy and ongoing euro-zone debt problems.
Analysts expected copper to keep trading in tandem with equities' sentiment by the end of the year as macroeconomic conditions take precedence over supply-demand fundamentals.
A Shanghai Metals Market survey of 20 copper tube makers, who supply producers of white goods such as air-conditioners, showed that half of them were bearish on orders by the Lunar New Year holiday as end-user inventories are high due to sluggish demand from Europe, the main destination.
Copper traded at the Changjiang Nonferrous Metals Trading Market, a major spot metals market in Shanghai, was quoted at CNY55,100-CNY55,300/ton compared with CNY55,400-CNY55,600 Monday.
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, zinc and lead settled steady.
Tuesday's settlement prices in yuan a ton and LME late kerb prices from Friday in dollars a ton:
Metal SHFE LME
Copper Mar 55,140 Down 250 3Mo 7,640 Up 105.0
Aluminum Mar 15,860 Up 10 3Mo 2,016 Down 2.0
Zinc Mar 14,715 Down 10 3Mo 1,855 Up 5.0
Lead Feb 15,165 Up 15 3Mo 2,019 Up 19.0
-Yue Li contributed to this article; Dow Jones Newswires; (8621) 6120 1200; yue.li@dowjones.com
