Bloomberg reported that copper rallied from the lowest level in more than a week as Chinese users bought the metal to replenish stockpiles ahead of a week long holiday.

The metal for delivery in three months climbed as much as 0.8% to USD 8,244 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange before trading at USD 8,225. December futures rose 0.4% to USD 3.7445 per pound on the Comex.

Mr Fang Junfeng an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures Company said that “There is a bit of stockpiling need ahead of the long holiday next week. Copper seems to be capped in range bound trade with China and Europe being the main downside risks and a global deficit this year underpinning prices.”

The Conference Board, a New York based research group said that markets in China will be closed next week for the National Day holiday. A leading index for China’s economy rose 1.7% in August from July to 240.4, the biggest rise in seven months. That compared with a revised 0.6 percent gain in the previous month.

According to the median estimates from nine traders, analysts and warehouse managers, copper stockpiles in bonded warehouses in Shanghai are about 650,000 tonnes with 5 saying the current level is a record. The January delivery contract rose 0.3% to CNY 59,230 per tonne on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

Source - Bloomberg

(www.steelguru.com)