SINGAPORE, April 17 (Reuters) – London copper was steady on
Wednesday, supported by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve
will stick to its easing stance after a fresh batch of muted
data, while concerns about demand growth kept a lid on prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange
was unchanged at $7,285 a tonne by 0115 GMT from the previous
session when it climbed 1.2 percent.
* Copper on Monday hit its lowest in a year-and-a-half at
$7,085 a tonne and so far this year has logged losses of 8
percent.
* The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai
Futures Exchange climbed 0.89 percent to 52,990 yuan
($8,600) a tonne.
* U.S. consumer prices fell in March for the first time in
four months and factory output slipped, strengthening the
argument for the Federal Reserve to maintain its monetary
stimulus to speed up economic growth.
* The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday trimmed
projections for global economic growth for this year and next to
take into account sharp government spending cuts in the United
States and the latest struggles of recession-stricken Europe.
* Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday affirmed China’s
government’s bond rating of Aa3 but cut the outlook to stable
from positive, the second pessimistic revision by a foreign
ratings agency this month.
* China’s antitrust authorities removed the last obstacle to
Glencore’s $30 billion takeover of miner Xstrata on
Tuesday after the commodities trader agreed to sell a $5.2
billion mining project to ease its grip on
copper.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click
, or
MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares and commodities recovered on Wednesday as a
sharp sell-off over the past two sessions lured bargain hunters,
with sentiment bolstered by positive American corporate earnings
and data supporting the case for ongoing U.S. monetary stimulus.
* The yen eased in early Asian trade on Wednesday,
succumbing to renewed pressure after gold prices steadied
somewhat from an eye-watering plunge earlier in the week.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0500 Japan Consumer confidence index
1100 U.S. Weekly mortgage market index
1130 India M3 money supply
1430 U.S. EIA petroleum status report
1800 U.S. Federal Reserve’s Beige Book.
PRICES
Base metals prices at 0114 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg
LME Cu 7285.00 0.00 +0.00 -8.12
SHFE CU FUT AUG3 52990 470 +0.89 -8.13
HG COPPER MAY3 329.15 -1.40 -0.42 -9.88
LME Alum 1918.50 4.50 +0.24 -7.36
SHFE AL FUT JUL3 14625 80 +0.55 -4.69
LME Zinc 1897.00 1.00 +0.05 -8.07
SHFE ZN FUT JUL3 14640 -905 -5.82 -5.82
LME Nickel 15720.00 15.00 +0.10 -8.36
LME Lead 2066.25 1.25 +0.06 -11.70
SHFE PB FUT 0.00 -14035.00 -100.00 -100.00
LME Tin 21200.00 80.00 +0.38 -9.40
LME/Shanghai arb^ -405
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months
^ LME 3-month copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE
third month
($1 = 6.1831 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Richard Pullin)
