Reuters reported that London copper slipped ahead of a crucial US labour report but was set to log its biggest weekly gain since early May as a shortfall in Chinese supply and technical buying supported prices.
Fundamentals;
1. Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange eased to USD 6,942 per tonne by 0106 GMT after falling in the previous session.
2. Copper prices are heading for gains of about 2.5% this week, the largest weekly rise since May 3.
3. The most traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged down 0.20% to CNY 50,140 per tonne.
4. The European Central Bank broke with precedent by declaring it would keep interest rates at record lows for an extended period and may yet cut further, responding to turbulence caused by the US Federal Reserve's exit plan from money printing.
5. Investors sold out of commodity exchange-traded products (ETPs) in June after the US Federal Reserve signalled it would wind down its economic stimulus program pushing up real interest rates and making gold less attractive.
6. China's copper importers are being forced by bottlenecks at London Metal Exchange's warehousing system to queue up for deliveries of metal they have already bought, resulting in spot copper import premiums rising by a third since mid June.
7. Indonesia's overhaul of tin trading rules that raises minimum purity levels is expected to slash shipments from the world's top refined tin exporter over the next few months, potentially pushing up prices for the metal used in electronic goods.
