Copper rises 4% in LME trade

Print this page Posted on : 12-30-2008 by recycleinme.com

Reuters

London, Dec. 29

Copper rose more than 4 per cent on Monday on higher oil prices and the weaker dollar but analysts expect the rally to be short lived because the outlook for the metal remains bleak as demand dwindles.

Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange rose 4.1 per cent to a high of $2,940 a tonne from $2,825 at the close on Wednesday, the last trading session before the holidays, helped by higher oil and the weaker dollar. At 1131 GMT, it was trading at $2,870 a tonne.

CHINA STOCKPILES

A move by China to stockpile tin and aluminium had little impact as market participants awaited further clarity on the deals, traders said.

Top Chinese tin producer Yunnan Tin has proposed selling 30,000 tonnes of tin ingots to Yunnan province for its planned base metal reserves, a company executive said.

Tin was trading at $9,950 a tonne from $9,850.

The move follows China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB) agreement to buy about 300,000 tonnes of aluminium at around 12,300 yuan ($1,800) per tonne in January to support producers, trading and industry sources said last week. ''It is positive if it's going to happen,'' the Sucden broker said.

Aluminium dipped to $1,526 a tonne from $1,540, zinc was down at $1,132.25 from $1,144, lead was at $870 from $875.5, while nickel rose to $9,850 from $9,600.

Source : Business Line