LONDON, June 10 (Reuters): Copper recovered from five-week lows on Monday, bouncing from initial declines as market focus shifted to improving fundamentals.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.6 per cent at $9,819 a metric ton by 1000 GMT, having earlier slipped to the lowest level since May 2 at $9,741 after speculators cut bets on higher prices.
Traders expect further buying on Tuesday when China returns from the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
The sell-off had started on Friday after US data showed strong jobs growth in May, suggesting that the US Federal Reserve might not cut interest rates as soon as previously expected.
This prompted the US currency to bounce, making dollar-priced metals more for expensive for holders of other currencies in a relationship used by funds to generate buy and sell signals from numerical models.
"Such an outsized reaction can only happen in the futures markets if traders square their positions based on some sort of automated trading," said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
