LONDON: Copper prices rose on Friday as expectations of strong demand in top consumer China were reinforced by historically low inventories of the metal in the London Metal Exchange (LME) registered warehouses.
Benchmark copper prices on the LME touched a two-year high of $6,830 a tonne on Monday. It was up 2.2% to $6,711 a tonne by 1600 GMT. Underpinning the metal is a solid recovery in demand from China, said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.
"From a technical perspective, support is at the uptrend just above $6,500," he added. A gauge of global stocks fell for a second straight day on Friday and was on pace for its worst week in more than two months, while the dollar continued to climb in the wake of the US payrolls report.
Copper stockpiles in LME-registered warehouses fell by 2,725 tonnes to 82,450 tonnes, the lowest since December 2005. Inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose by 6,787 tonnes to 176,873 tonnes in the week to Friday.
Industrial goods orders in Germany rose by a smaller than expected 2.8% in July, dampening hopes of a strong recovery. Exports from China, however, are likely to have achieved a second month of solid gains in August, a Reuters poll showed.
Some Japanese aluminium buyers have agreed a premium of $88 a tonne for October-December shipments, up from $79 in the current quarter, sources said. LME aluminium was up 0.4% at $1,787 a tonne, zinc fell 0.9% to $2,492, nickel gained 1.4% to $15,295, lead rose 1.4% to $1,972 and tin was little changed at $18,220.
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