BLBG:Copper Climbs for Third Day as U.S. Data Boost Demand Outlook
Copper rose for a third day as a better-than-estimated service-sector growth in the U.S., the world’s second-biggest user of the industrial metal, boosted the demand outlook. Aluminum, zinc and lead also advanced.
Copper for delivery in three months climbed as much as 0.5 percent to $7,812.50 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange before trading at $7,789.74 at 12:07 p.m. in Seoul. The May contract on the Comex in New York gained 0.4 percent to $3.5285 per pound.
The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index grew to 56 in February from 55.2 in January, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said yesterday. Readings above 50 signal expansion in the industries comprising 90 percent of the economy.
“The U.S. data are helping support copper prices,” said Hwang Il Doo, a senior trader at Seoul-based Korea Exchange Bank (004940) Futures Co. “At the same time, expectations are growing that demand may improve in the second quarter, which is a peak-demand season.”
In the U.K. services unexpectedly accelerated last month, while euro-area services output shrank less than initially estimated. Earlier this week, China held a target for economic growth at last year’s level, supporting the demand prospect in the world’s biggest consumer of the metal.
Still, “prices won’t rally significantly from here in the short term because market fundamentals basically remain largely unchanged,” Hwang said
June delivery copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped 0.1 percent to 56,870 yuan ($9,148) a ton.
Stockpiles monitored by the London Metal Exchange have climbed 48 percent this year to the highest since October 2011.
On the LME, tin and nickel were little changed.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sungwoo Park in Seoul at spark47@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brett Miller at bmiller30@bloomberg.net
