US copper futures close up

US copper futures managed to eke out modest gains on Friday and were up more than 4 percent on the week as the market continued to ride a wave of bullish momentum that looked likely to extend into next week, analysts said.
"We have had a very significant move all week $3.60 was the top and we got right to it yesterday, but couldn't breach it. I like the way the charts look. I think we breach the $3.60 next week and work our way to $3.65, and then we're really close to contract highs," said Scott Myers, senior-trading analyst with Pioneer Futures in New York.
Copper for September delivery ended up 0.10 cent to $3.5945 a lb. at the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division, just off the top of its $3.5625 to $3.5960 trading band.
Final estimated futures volumes totalled 10,074 lots, down from Thursday's official count at 15,645 lots. As of July 5, open interest in Comex copper futures climbed 2,723 lots to 84,575 contracts. Bout of profit-taking failed to keep prices on the defensive for long as the market continued to grind higher amid concerns strike threats around the world will continue to depress global exchange-monitored copper stocks.
One of Chile's largest copper mines, Collahuasi, and its workers were struggling to reach a new wage deal on Friday and head-off a strike that could start early next week. Union leaders and managers at the mine, which is located in northern Chile and produces 440,000 tonnes of copper per year, talked into the hours of Friday but were unable to agree on a new contract.
On Friday is the last day for the sides to reach a deal in the government-brokered talks that began this week in order to have enough time put it to a vote by the union over the weekend. Failure to reach a deal would mean a strike on Monday. London Metal Exchange copper stocks fell 2,475 tonnes to 105,475 tonnes on Friday a little more than two days of global consumption and the lowest since last August.
Comex stocks were unchanged at 22,123 short tons on Tuesday.
Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 8.3 percent to 83,091 tonnes in the week ended on Thursday from 90,617 tonnes the previous week.
"Copper stocks fell this by 7,526 tonnes, the third successive weekly decline, which we believe points to a pickup in domestic demand following a period when refined imports were high," noted Robin Bar, analyst with investment bank UBS.
A better-than-expected US jobs number for June aided in copper's recovery on Friday as the data underlined a strengthening job market and signalled a pickup in the pace of economic growth after a first-quarter lull.
The government's conform payrolls report, the most closely watched barometer of the health of the US labour market, showed 132,000 jobs were created in June, beating the consensus forecast of 120,000 in a Reuters poll. LME copper for delivery in three months ended down $20 to $7,840 a tonne after hitting an eight-week high at $7,880 in the session.