BLBG:Copper Set for Weekly Gain Amid Better-Than-Expected China Data
Copper is set for a weekly advance as better-than-expected data from China, the largest user, indicated demand will improve.
Metal for delivery in three months traded little changed at $8,050 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange at 10:27 a.m. Shanghai time, adding $5 from last week. Copper for delivery in April gained 0.8 percent to 58,190 yuan ($9,361) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Gross domestic product expanded 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter, accelerating for the first time in two years, as industrial production gained 10.3 percent last month from a year ago, the statistics bureau said today. Both exceeded the median estimate of economists in Bloomberg News survey. New-home prices, excluding so-called affordable residential apartments, gained in 40 of the 70 major cities the bureau monitors in December from a year ago, compared with 25 in November, the bureau said.
“The data confirmed the economy has bottomed,” Zhang Ao, an analyst at Minmetals Futures Co., said by phone from Shenzhen. “As a gradual recovery is expected, I’m optimistic about copper and other metals.”
Futures for March delivery on the Comex in New York were little changed at $3.659 per pound. On the LME, tin and lead advanced, while nickel dropped.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Helen Sun in Shanghai at hsun30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brett Miller at bmiller30@bloomberg.net
