Copper prices gain as dollar drops
Monday, 25 January 2010
NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Bloomberg): Copper prices climbed as the dollar's decline spurred demand for an alternative investment and an Asian measure of metal inventories dropped.
The dollar fell as much as 0.4 per cent against a basket of six major currencies. This week, copper stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by the most since December. Futures in New York doubled in 2009, spurred by a slumping US currency and metal demand in China.
"The copper market is looking for any reason to rally," said Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist at MF Global Ltd's Lind-Waldock unit in Chicago. "There was a pretty big drop in Shanghai inventory. It lends a lot of bullish credence to the market."
Copper futures for March delivery rose 5.2 cents, or 1.6 per cent, to $3.347 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price dropped 0.6 per cent this week.
Stockpiles in China, the world's biggest copper buyer, fell 3.3 per cent to 97,308 metric tonnes from a week earlier.
Earlier, copper tumbled 0.9 per cent on concern that China plans to increase interest rates and a proposal to limit risk- taking by US banks may erode demand for metals.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months jumped $115, or 1.6 per cent, to $7,390 a metric tonne ($3.35 a pound). Tin also rose. Nickel, aluminum, lead and zinc prices fell.
The dollar fell as much as 0.4 per cent against a basket of six major currencies. This week, copper stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by the most since December. Futures in New York doubled in 2009, spurred by a slumping US currency and metal demand in China.
"The copper market is looking for any reason to rally," said Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist at MF Global Ltd's Lind-Waldock unit in Chicago. "There was a pretty big drop in Shanghai inventory. It lends a lot of bullish credence to the market."
Copper futures for March delivery rose 5.2 cents, or 1.6 per cent, to $3.347 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price dropped 0.6 per cent this week.
Stockpiles in China, the world's biggest copper buyer, fell 3.3 per cent to 97,308 metric tonnes from a week earlier.
Earlier, copper tumbled 0.9 per cent on concern that China plans to increase interest rates and a proposal to limit risk- taking by US banks may erode demand for metals.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months jumped $115, or 1.6 per cent, to $7,390 a metric tonne ($3.35 a pound). Tin also rose. Nickel, aluminum, lead and zinc prices fell.