Copper rose to the highest price since April as inventories extended their slide and a report showed manufacturing sped up for a second month in China, the world’s largest user of the metal. Stockpiles monitored by the London Metal Exchange fell to the lowest level since Nov. 4 and are down 25 percent this year. A China purchasing managers’ index released today by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics reached a five-month high in August. Before today, copper prices gained 33 percent in the past year. “Copper is benefitting from the pick-up in Chinese production and continued drawdown in stocks,” said Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services in Chicago. Copper futures for delivery in December rose 1.2 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $3.649 a pound at 10:13 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the metal reached $3.658, the highest price for a most-active contract since April 12. On the LME, copper for delivery in three months rose $71, or 0.9 percent, to $8,022 ($3.64 a pound) a metric ton, after touching $8,038, also the highest price since April 12. A separate purchasing-manager index for Chinese manufacturing that’s backed by the country’s government is scheduled for release on Oct. 1. The index, released by the National Bureau of Statistics and the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, may increase to 52.5 from an August reading of 51.7, according to the median forecast of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. “Just as Western authorities are going for more quantitative easing and competitive devaluation, we might just be surprised by the strength of global growth for the next quarter or so,” said Nic Brown, an analyst at Natixis Commodity Markets Ltd. in London. Inventories Shrink Stockpiles in LME warehouses fell 175 tons to 375,100 tons, the third straight decline, daily exchange figures showed. Inventories have slumped for 31 straight weeks and are on course for the first annual contraction since 2004. Aluminum, lead and tin also advanced, while nickel and zinc fell. To contact the reporters on the story: Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at pnguyen@bloomberg.net; Anna Stablum in London at astablum@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net

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