IV:Copper futures down for 2nd day amid Fed uncertainty
Investing.com - Copper futures edged lower for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, as investors awaited further indications over the timing of the Federal Reserve’s widely expected reduction in monthly bond purchases.
The Fed’s stimulus program is viewed by many investors as a key driver in boosting the price of commodities as it tends to depress the value of the dollar.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures for September delivery traded at USD3.313 a pound during European morning trade, down 0.6%.
Nymex copper prices fell by as much as 0.9% earlier in the session to hit a daily low of USD3.303 a pound.
Copper prices were likely to find support at USD3.287 a pound, the low from August 15 and resistance at USD3.372 a pound, Monday’s high.
The September contract settled down 0.9% at USD3.332 a pound on Monday.
Market players remained cautious ahead of the minutes of the Fed's July meeting, due out on Wednesday, for further indications as to when the central bank may start to unwind its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.
U.S. data on initial jobless claims and the housing sector later in the week will also be closely watched.
Copper traders have closely been looking out for U.S. data reports recently to gauge if they will strengthen or weaken the case for the Fed to reduce its bond purchases.
Any improvement in the U.S. economy was likely to reinforce the view that the central bank will begin to taper its bond purchase program in the coming months.
Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for December delivery was little changed to trade at USD1,366.00 a troy ounce, while silver for September delivery fell 1.2% to trade at USD22.88 a troy ounce.
Moves in the gold and silver price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its bond-buying program sooner-than-expected.
