Copper futures edged higher to move further off last week’s eight-month
low on Monday, as market players awaited the release of key Chinese
economic data later in the week to gauge the strength of the world’s
second largest economy.
China is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.
On
the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures
for May delivery traded at USD3.370 a pound during European morning
trade, up 0.8% on the day.
New York-traded copper prices rose by
as much as 1% earlier in the session to hit a daily high of USD3.378 a
pound. Comex copper fell to an eight-month low of USD3.306 a pound last
Thursday.
China will announce inflation data for March on
Tuesday. A higher-than-expected reading could dampen hopes that Beijing
will introduce fresh easing measures in the near-term to boost economic
growth.
Gains were limited amid concerns the U.S. economic recovery is losing momentum, reducing hopes for higher copper demand.
The
U.S. Department of Labor said the economy added 88,000 jobs last month,
the smallest increase since last June and far below forecasts for an
increase of 200,000.
The data also showed that the unemployment
rate ticked down to 7.6% from 7.7% in February, but the decline stemmed
from more people dropping out of the labor force. The labor
participation rate fell to 63.3%, the lowest level since 1979.
The U.S. is second behind China in global copper demand.
Elsewhere
on the Comex, gold for June delivery added 0.1% to trade at USD1,577.65
a troy ounce, while silver for May delivery eased up 0.1% to trade at
USD27.24 a troy ounce.
No comments:
Post a Comment