BLBG:Zinc Reaches One-Year High on Recovery Signs in China and U.S.
Zinc rose to a one-year high in London amid signs economies are recovering in China and the U.S., the world’s two largest consumers of the metal. Copper was little changed.
Chinese services industries, which accounted for 45 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, expanded last month at the fastest pace since August, according to a report yesterday. Figures today may show U.S. factory orders gained for a third month in four after reports Feb. 1 showed manufacturing grew more than forecast last month and hiring increased.
“Optimism based on good U.S. and Chinese economic figures continues to push metals higher today and probably this whole week,” Pengjiang “Richard” Fu, director for Asian commodities trading at Newedge Group SA in London, said by e-mail.
Zinc for delivery in three months added 0.2 percent to $2,180 a metric ton by 10:06 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange. Prices reached $2,190, the highest since Jan. 27, 2012. Copper for three-month delivery was little changed at $8,291 a ton, while the metal for delivery in March fell 0.3 percent to $3.773 a pound on the Comex in New York.
There is “more risk appetite,” said David Wilson, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in London. Still, prospects for a surplus of copper weighed on prices, along with a “growing sense of over-availability of copper in China,” he said.
Production of copper will exceed demand by 90,000 tons this year, according to Standard Bank Plc. Stockpiles of the metal tracked by the LME are up 17 percent in 2013 and reached a 13- month high on Feb. 1, while orders to remove copper from warehouses have tumbled 37 percent.
Copper inventories fell 0.5 percent to 374,200 tons, LME figures showed today. Canceled warrants, as the orders are known, dropped for a 10th session in 11 to 32,650 tons.
U.S. factory orders increased 2.3 percent in December, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Nickel, lead and tin rose in London. Aluminum slipped.
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
