Copper Rises on U.S., China Demand Outlook; Nickel Prices Jump bloomberg Posted Dec 05.2014 Copper gained for the first time in three days on signs that demand will stay robust in the U.S. and China, the world’s top metals consumers. Nickel reached a nine-week high. Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, government data showed today. The People’s Bank of China made a net injection of 30 billion yuan ($4.9 billion) this week, as the central bank ramps up efforts to revive growth, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Copper fell to a four-year low on Dec. 1 on concern that a cooling Chinese economy would reduce demand for the metal, used in pipes and wiring. “Strong U.S. data is making people most optimistic about higher demand in the U.S.,” Bart Melek, the head of commodity strategy at TD Securities in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. Copper futures for March delivery climbed 1.5 percent to settle at $2.9145 a pound at 1:16 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Prices have fallen 14 percent this year amid demand concerns. China’s State Reserve Bureau purchased as much as 700,000 metric tons of the metal so far in 2014, and will probably buy as much as 200,000 tons more over the next two months, Nicholas Snowdon, a metals analyst at Standard Chartered in London, said yesterday. A fire yesterday at an ore concentrator at Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine is being investigated, Tony Shaffer, a spokesman for Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd., which co-owns the facility, said in an e-mail. He declined to comment on the impact on production. The concentrator is a machine that separates waste rock from copper. The metal for delivery in three months rose 1.4 percent to $6,470 a metric ton ($2.93 a pound) on the London Metal Exchange. Nickel Rally Nickel for delivery in three months jumped 3.2 percent to $17,120 a ton on the LME, after touching $17,140, the highest since Sept. 26. The metal was the biggest gainer today among the 22 raw materials tracked by the Bloomberg Commodity Index. Indonesia’s Constitutional Court yesterday upheld the country’s ban on exports of raw mineral ores imposed in January, rejecting a challenge from mining companies. The nation is the top producer of the metal from mines. Investors are planning to build six alumina refineries and 30 nickel smelters through 2017, according to ministry data. “Until these are completed, Indonesia will export only small quantities of nickel, which should cause the global nickel market to tighten,” Commerzbank analysts said in an e-mailed report today. Also on the LME, aluminum, zinc and lead advanced, while tin fell. To contact the reporters on this story: Debarati Roy in New York at [email protected]; Laura Clarke in London at [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 09:22:10 +0000
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