By Maytaal Angel
LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Copper edged down on Monday
as more negative news flow on Europe's debt crisis dimmed
prospects for metals demand and overshadowed signs of improved
growth in the United States, the world's largest economy.
German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday the
International Monetary Fund was losing confidence in Greece's
ability to clean up its public finances and work off its
mountain of debt.
The news came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President Nicolas Sarkozy are due to meet later this session to
finalise details of a deal to increase fiscal coordination in
the euro zone.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange
edged down 0.40 percent to $7,550 a tonne by 1005 GMT. The
metal, used in power and construction, lost 21 percent of its
value last year - the first drop in two years.
"As much as U.S. numbers are improving there is nothing
positive coming out of Europe," said VTB Capital analyst Andrey
Kryuchenkov.
He added: "The crisis in Europe is affecting exports in
China and for the Chinese to start restocking we need to see
price pullbacks."
Copper ticked up on Friday after data showed U.S. employment
growth accelerated last month and the jobless rate dropped to a
near three-year low, the strongest evidence yet the economic
recovery is gaining steam.
THE PLUS-SIDE
Investors are now awaiting trade data from China, due on
Tuesday, in order to gauge whether the world's largest consumer
of the metal is continuing to import more metal on a monthly
basis.
"Given the fact that prices in China have held up better
than elsewhere, traders have the incentive to import more metal
into China," said Credit Suisse in a note.
"Rising metals imports would be positive for prices, in our
view. However, we would not become overly optimistic just yet.
European politics could still trigger erratic price moves this
week."
A busy week of government bond issues is planned in Europe
featuring triple-A issuers Germany, Netherlands and Austria, and
capped by sales of new debt by Spain and Italy on Thursday and
Friday.
The debt auction are expected to total more than 21 billion
euros.
On the plus side for copper, latest data from the
Commodities Futures Trading Commission showed speculators
further reduced bearish bets in the red metal to the lowest
level since the second week of November.
Also, data from China over the weekend showed banks
increasing their lending in the final month of 2011, raising
expectations that businesses will find it easier to borrow and
purchase commodities.
In other metals traded, soldering metal tin rose
0.50 percent to $19,950 a tonne while zinc, used in
galvanizing rose 0.62 percent to $1,864.50.
Battery material lead rose 0.31 percent to $1,965,
aluminium fell 0.19 percent to $2,065 while
stainless-steel ingredient nickel rose 0.17 percent to
$18,731.
Metal Prices at 1016 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2009 Ytd
Pct
LME Alum 2069.00 0.00 +0.00 2230.00
-7.22
LME Cu 7580.00 0.00 +0.00 7375.00
2.78
LME Lead 1958.50 -0.50 -0.03 2432.00
-19.47
LME Nickel 18750.00 50.00 +0.27 18525.00
1.21
LME Tin 19800.00 -50.00 -0.25 16950.00
16.81
LME Zinc 1852.50 -0.50 -0.03 2560.00
-27.64
SHFE Alu 15945.00 10.00 +0.06 17160.00
-7.08
SHFE Cu* 55490.00 -410.00 -0.73 59900.00
-7.36
SHFE Zin 14740.00 10.00 +0.07 21195.00
-30.46
** 1st contract month for COMEX copper
* 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN
SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07
