BLBG:Copper Climbs In New York On Speculation Of Bernanke’s Comments
Copper rose in New York on speculation Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will hint at more stimulus to fuel growth in the world’s second-biggest consumer of the metal.
Bernanke is due to speak today in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. His address in 2010 preceded a second round of so-called quantitative easing. The dollar weakened against the euro, making commodities cheaper for users of the single European currency.
“We are all waiting for Jackson Hole,” Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital Plc in London, said by e- mail.
Copper for December delivery rose 0.4 percent to $3.461 a pound by 7:45 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Prices are down 0.9 percent this week and up 1.3 percent in August. Copper for three-month delivery climbed 0.5 percent to $7,602.50 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange.
“Some form of QE3 action from Jackson Hole is priced into the market, so any perceived under-delivery will result in a marked risk selloff,” Jason Dobson, director of metals for Asia at ICAP Plc in Hong Kong, wrote in a report.
A gauge of manufacturing in China, the biggest global copper user, may be little changed for August at 50, the level that divides expansion and contraction, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The prior level was 50.1. The report is set for release tomorrow.
Copper stockpiles monitored by the LME fell for a fifth session to 229,900 tons and slid 2.4 percent this week, daily exchange figures showed. Inventories in Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouses fell to 158,065 tons this week, according to data from the bourse.
Lead for three-month delivery on the LME gained as much as 1.3 percent, the most in a week, and was last up 1 percent at $1,962.50 a ton. Orders to remove the metal from LME warehouses jumped 46 percent to 114,025 tons, the highest level since at least 1997.
Zinc and aluminum fell in London, nickel rose and tin was unchanged.
To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka Troszkiewicz in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
