RTRS:METALS-Copper steady near 4-month high after China PMI
* Copper heads for second week of gains
* Spain, France successfully sell bonds
* U.S. jobless claims decline
* Coming Up: U.S. existing home sales; 2300 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Melanie Burton and Jane Lee
SHANGHAI, Jan 20 (Reuters) - London copper steadied on
Friday near a four-month high after manufacturing data from
China showing a sluggish start to the year tempered near-term
expectations of demand from the world's top consumer of the
metal.
Three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange traded at $8,380 a tonne, up 0.2 percent, by 0649 GMT.
It earlier rose to $8,428.50 a tonne, its highest since Sept.
20. Prices have increased 4.9 percent this week.
The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai
Futures Exchange rose 0.7 percent to 60,740 yuan
($9,600) a tonne. The exchange will be closed all of next week
for the Lunar New Year holidays.
China's manufacturers started 2012 in a sluggish mode,
suggesting Beijing will keep pulling pro-growth policy levers
despite some early signs that a downward drift in factory
activity is slowing, a survey of purchasing managers showed on
Friday.
The HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index, the
earliest indicator of China's industrial activity, stood at 48.8
in January, a slight improvement on the 48.7 final reading of
the December index that put the indicator at a three-month high.
"This is the third sub-50 read in a row so that's going to
be disappointing for the market," said Nick Trevethan, a
Singapore-based analyst at ANZ Research.
"However, there were some encouraging elements from within
the data, particularly on the export side. It makes more target
easing, particularly in the reserve requirements ratio, very
probable. The government is likely to target the small and
medium-sized business sector, which should be positive for
industrial metals longer term."
EUROPE DEBT SALE
The improving investor confidence came after Spain sold more
longer-term debt than expected, while France raised almost 9.5
billion euros in its first bond auctions since Standard & Poor's
stripped the country of its AAA rating last week.
Signs the U.S. economy is recovering also helped underpin
sentiment towards metals.
U.S. jobless claims fell to near a four-year low last week,
while inflation readings in December were tame. U.S. single
family housing starts, which account for a larger share of new
home construction, rose 4.4 percent.
Base metals prices at 0653 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg
LME Cu 8373.00 13.00 +0.16 10.17
SHFE CU FUT APR2 60680 120 +0.20 9.61
HG COPPER MAR2 380.70 0.65 +0.17 10.80
LME Alum 2222.00 -10.00 -0.45 10.00
SHFE AL FUT APR2 16400 35 +0.21 3.50
LME Zinc 2030.00 0.00 +0.00 10.03
SHFE ZN FUT APR2 15785 125 +0.80 6.69
LME Nickel 20320.00 120.00 +0.59 8.61
LME Lead 2179.00 -4.00 -0.18 7.08
SHFE PB FUT 16120.00 120.00 +0.75 5.46
LME Tin 21880.00 -20.00 -0.09 13.96
LME/Shanghai arb^ 1294
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months
($1=6.3167 Chinese yuan)
