SG:London copper rises but on track for 2nd weekly drop
Reuters reported that London copper climbed as some traders covered short positions but remained on track to close down for a second straight week on worries over tepid Chinese demand growth and an early end to easy monetary policy by global central banks.
While a disruption in supply from the world's No.2 copper mine in Indonesia supported sentiment, it is the bleak global demand outlook that has been dragging on prices of the metal, which dropped to a six week low on Thursday.
Mr Chunlan Li at metals consultancy CRU in Beijing said that "Recently, China's economic data has not been very good. Also, there may be lower seasonal demand from late June for the copper tube sector when there is less buying from air conditioner manufacturers due to the weather."
For now, copper prices may be drawing support from a drop in bonded stocks in China. China is the world's top copper consumer accounting for 40% of refined demand.
Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.97% to USD 7,118.25 per tonne by 0253 GMT after dropping to the lowest since May 3 at USD 7,011.25 on Thursday. Copper is down around 10% for the year. The most traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped by 0.41% to CNY 51,460 per tonne.
Investors remain jittery over uncertainty on whether the US Federal Reserve will scale back its massive stimulus which has been the main source of rallies in riskier assets at next week's policy meeting.
In signs of economic resilience, US retail sales rose more than expected in May and first time applications for unemployment benefits fell last week.
