The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange firmed 0.1 percent to 44,250 yuan ($7,140) a tonne on Thursday. ShFE copper fell below its 200-day moving average on Wednesday, a chart signal that suggests consolidation to come. Demand for metals is typically strongest in the second quarter, after the Lunar New Year and ahead of the northern hemisphere summer slowdown, suggesting appetite - and prices - could wane going into the rest of the year.
But a string of infrastructure announcements by Beijing, along with easier polices could yet underpin metals demand into the second half, said Morgan Stanley analyst Joel Crane in Melbourne. "Given the high level of announcements, should they translate into new starts of infrastructure, that will definitely be a boost for broad metals demand aluminium in transport, copper in power for urbanisation and rural upgrades."
China's state planning agency on Monday released a list of more than 1,000 proposed projects totalling 1.97 trillion yuan ($318 billion) that it is inviting private investors to help fund, build and operate. China's factories struggled to expand in May despite recent interest rate cuts and other policy stimulus, a Reuters poll showed, suggesting the government may have to do more to halt a protracted slowdown in the economy.