Shanghai copper climbs

The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 0.4 percent to 43,370 yuan ($6,989) a tonne on Wednesday but expectations of slowing demand in summer capped demand. "There's still a bit of cloudiness around underlying Chinese demand, which is creating a bit of uncertainty in the market, with the strong seasonal period coming to an end," said analyst Daniel Hynes at ANZ in Sydney.
Hynes expects third quarter demand to be stronger than the particularly weak first quarter. "I still expect incremental improvement ... But certainly year-on-year gains we would normally have expected are probably unlikely." Economists at China's central bank lowered their 2015 growth forecast for the Chinese economy to 7.0 percent, from 7.1 percent, citing increased downward pressure on activity.