SINGAPORE, April 11 (Reuters) – London copper was steady on
Thursday, supported by growing optimism over China’s economic
revival after lending surged in March, but consumers were
reluctant to chase prices that hit two-week highs earlier in the
week given global oversupply.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange
was litte changed at $7,544 a tonne by 0114 GMT, after closing
down 0.66 percent the session before.
* Prices hit their highest in almost two weeks at $7645.25 a
tonne on Tuesday, rebounding from 8-month lows marked at the
start of April. Copper is now trading in a $7,650-$7,330 band,
down more than 4 percent for the year.
* The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai
Futures Exchange slipped 0.20 percent to 55,140 yuan
($8,900) a tonne.
* Chinese banks extended 1.06 trillion yuan ($171.2 billion)
of new local currency loans in March, above market expectations
for 850 billion yuan and sharply higher than the previous month,
central bank data showed on Thursday.
* China’s annual rate of economic growth likely nudged
higher in the first three months of 2013 versus the last quarter
of 2012, with fixed asset investment and factory output growth
in double digits, cementing a mild rebound, according to a
Reuters poll.
* The minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserves’ March meeting
suggested officials debated slowing the pace of asset purchases
or ending them later this year.
* Chinese copper smelters are set to cash in on the closure
of India’s top smelter by raising production in the current
quarter to benefit from higher treatment and refining charges
for raw material concentrates.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click
, or
MARKETS NEWS
* Wall Street’s record closing overnight and growing
optimism about the Chinese economy underpinned Asian shares on
Thursday, while the Bank of Japan’s bold monetary stimulus kept
the yen near fresh lows against major currencies.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
1230 U.S. Import/export prices
1230 U.S. Weekly jobless claims
PRICES
Base metals prices at 0114 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg
LME Cu 7574.00 -1.00 -0.01 -4.48
SHFE CU FUT AUG3 55140 -110 -0.20 -4.40
HG COPPER MAY3 342.15 0.35 +0.10 -6.32
LME Alum 1909.00 -0.50 -0.03 -7.82
SHFE AL FUT JUL3 14725 15 +0.10 -4.04
LME Zinc 1912.00 2.00 +0.10 -7.34
SHFE ZN FUT JUL3 14860 -685 -4.41 -4.41
LME Nickel 16135.00 85.00 +0.53 -5.95
LME Lead 2095.00 5.00 +0.24 -10.47
SHFE PB FUT 14400.00 -65.00 -0.45 -5.57
LME Tin 22875.00 0.00 +0.00 -2.24
LME/Shanghai arb^ -333
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months
($1 = 6.1939 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Joseph Radford)
