Forexpros - Copper futures edged up to hit a one-week high during European morning hours on Thursday, as market sentiment improved after official data showed that China’s economy grew in line with market expectations, easing fears over a deeper-than-expected slowdown in the world’s second largest economy. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures for December delivery traded at USD3.753 a pound during European morning trade, easing up 0.15%. Earlier in the day, prices rose by as much as 0.4% to hit a session high of USD3.764 a pound, the strongest level since October 11. Official data released earlier showed that China’s economy expanded at an annualized rate of 7.4% in the third quarter, broadly in line with market expectations. Other key China reports, including retail sales and industrial output figures beat forecasts, easing fears over a ‘hard landing’ in the world’s second largest economy. The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year. The China growth figures came one day after a report showed that U.S. housing starts rose by 15% in September, the fastest pace since July 2008, adding to hopes that the U.S. economic recovery is gaining momentum. An improving property sector not only boosts demand for copper as construction material, but also increases consumption from the home appliances sector. Elsewhere, Spain saw the yield on 10-year government bonds fall to the lowest level since April at an auction of government debt earlier, as investors looked ahead to the start of a two-day summit of European leaders later in the day amid uncertainty over Spain's bailout plan. Spain’s Treasury sold EUR1.51 billion worth of ten-year government bonds at an average yield of 5.45%, down from 5.66% at a similar auction last month. The yield on three-year bonds fell to 3.22% from 3.95% last month, while the yield on four-year bonds declined to 3.97% from 4.60 in September. Market players have been anticipating for the past month that the Spanish government would ask for a full-scale sovereign bailout. A bailout would allow the ECB to step in and buy Spanish sovereign debt, which would result in reduced borrowing costs for the debt-strapped nation. But Spain has been reluctant to do so because it may come with conditions on its budget. Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for December delivery shed 0.25% to trade at USD1,748.55 a troy ounce, while silver for December delivery eased down 0.3% to trade at USD33.13 a troy ounce.

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