MW: Copper rises for fourth day on inventories; gold gains
Copper futures rose Monday for a fourth straight session in New York on continued declines in inventories and as China, the biggest copper consumer, released an upbeat economic report. Gold rose more than 1%.
Copper inventories in London Metal Exchange fell below 400,000 tons Friday, down more than 100,000 tons, or 21%, from a month ago. China's Purchasing Manager's Index climbed for a second straight month.
Copper for July delivery rose 5 cents, or 2.4%, to $2.151 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, June gold climbed $10.70, or 1.2%, to $898.90 an ounce.
"Both China and South Korea have been adding to strategic reserves and restocking at what they consider to be much better prices," said Brent Cook, author of investment letter Exploration Insights.
Despite copper's recent rallies, its prices were still low compared with last year's high above $4 a pound.
China's State Reserves Bureau is believed to have bought more than 300,000 tons of copper since March, and more LME copper inventories are expected to be bought by China in the next few months.
China's Purchasing Manager's Index climbed to 53.5 in April, the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing reported Friday. A reading above 50 indicates growth.
Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturing contracted less than forecast last month and consumer sentiment improved by the most in more than two years, last week's economic data showed. China and the U.S. are the world's two biggest copper consumers.
In other economic news, South Korea reported a 9% gain in export shipments in April from the previous month.
Gold rises
Gold futures rose Monday for the first session in three, climbing back above $890 an ounce. The metal had lost 3.7% in April and nearly 3% last week.
Bargain hunters entered gold trading after the metal's recent declines, analysts at Action Economics said.
However, "as the global economy shows signs of bottoming out gold could lose some of its safe haven bid, although long term players will closely follow inflation indicators," the added.
In other metals Monday, July silver rose 17.5 cents, or 1.4%, to $12.675 an ounce. June palladium gained $2.60, or 1.2%, to $216.50 an ounce, and July platinum added $10.20, or 1%, to $1107 an ounce.
