BLBG:Copper Rebounds From Three-Week Low on China Demand Optimism
Copper in London rebounded after falling to the lowest level in almost three weeks yesterday amid speculation that demand in China will increase in the next couple of weeks. Industrial metals rose.
Copper for delivery in three months gained 0.3 percent to $8,144 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange at 11:11 a.m. in Shanghai. Yesterday it fell to the lowest level since Jan. 30. The LME Index of six primary metals lost 1.5 percent to 3,546.9 yesterday, the lowest since Jan. 29.
“There seems to be a bit of short-covering today after yesterday’s slide,” Cao Yanghui, an analyst at Nanhua Futures Co., said by phone from Hangzhou. “The market is now looking to see how the physical markets in China will perform after the Lantern Festival.”
Markets in China were closed last week for Chinese New Year holidays and factories in rural areas usually restart after the Lantern Festival, which falls on Feb. 24 this year. Copper for immediate delivery on Shanghai’s Changjiang market was quoted at about the same level as the futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange yesterday. The metal for May delivery on the SHFE traded little changed at 58,980 yuan ($9,440) a ton.
The contract for May delivery on the Comex in New York declined 1.1 percent to $3.7115 per pound.
LME copper inventories gained to 404,300 tons yesterday, the highest since Nov. 14, 2011, while canceled warrants, or orders to move the metal out of warehouses, fell to 29,325 tons, the lowest since Dec. 12, data from the bourse showed.
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
