Copper rose for a second day in London after an index of European manufacturing climbed and inventories of the metal shrank. An index for manufacturing in the region based on a survey of purchasing managers by Markit Economics gained to 36.7 in April from 33.9 in March, and a gauge of new orders contracted the least in six months. Copper also advanced after stockpiles in warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange slid 2.1 percent, extending the past week’s drop to 7 percent. “The whole draw on LME inventories, especially in the copper market, gives support to prices,” Michael Widmer, an analyst at BNP Paribas SA in London, said by telephone. While manufacturing is still struggling in Europe, the pace of contraction has slowed, he said. Copper for three-month delivery rose $15, or 0.3 percent, to $4,555 a metric ton at noon on the LME, erasing a drop of as much as 4 percent. The metal has advanced 48 percent this year and reached $4,925 a ton, the highest intraday price since Oct. 20, on April 14. LME stockpiles fell to 440,475 tons today. Prices have been buoyed in 2009 by signs that China, the biggest consumer of the metal, has been building up stockpiles. Demand for industrial metals is “still a China story” while the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, remains in recession, Marc Elliott, an analyst at Fairfax IS in London, said by telephone today. Chinese Imports “We have to watch on a monthly basis what the imports are” into China, he said. The country’s imports of refined copper gained 10 percent on the month to 296,843 tons in March, the customs office said yesterday. “It is clear that for a wide range of commodities, demand from China has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise very bleak picture,” Barclays Capital said yesterday in a report. Chinese stockpiling and restocking, tight scrap supply and improved demand have lifted copper in Shanghai to a premium to the London price, according to Barclays. “This, in turn, has supported imports and could keep imports at a high level during the rest of the first half 2009,” the bank said. Barclays also cited a bigger-than-expected shift from scrap to refined metal, with almost 200,000 tons of the 358,000-ton increase in first-quarter imports used “to plug the scrap supply shortfall,” according to the report. Among other LME metals for three-month delivery, aluminum was unchanged at $1,468 a ton and nickel gained 1.1 percent to $11,650 a ton. Lead added 0.7 percent to $1,470 a ton, zinc dropped 0.3 percent to $1,465 a ton, and tin climbed 3.1 percent to $12,525 a ton.

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