Copper rises to one-week high

Copper rose to a one-week high on Friday after better-than-expected economic data from the US and Greece's deal with international lenders lifted equity markets and risk appetite. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed up one percent at $9,050 a tonne from Thursday's close of $8,960, snapping two days of losses.
The metal used in power and construction earlier hit a one-week high of $9,145 a tonne. It looks to be finding its footing this month after three months of losses with the price down less than two percent so far in June. "The overall story is still that people are a little bit uncertain of the way things are going," said analyst Michael Widmer of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
"There is still a little bit of anticipation that you may be get a stronger market as you move into the second half, which is to some extent is keeping prices up." The end of the first half and start of the second next week could add a boost metals prices if investors funnel fresh quarter fund allocations into commodities, traders said. Falling copper stocks and a narrowing differential between nearby and further forward prices suggests copper's outlook is already improving, said Barclays Capital in a note. "Copper's strength in particular is noteworthy given some of the weaker economic data that the market has had to digest recently," said Barclays capital in a note.
"Spreads continue to tighten leading to a steepening of the forward curve. This reflects the continued improvement in the fundamentals, in our view," it added. Latest data showed copper inventories fell 325 tonnes to 473,700 tonnes.
Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 7.5 percent from last Friday, the exchange said on Friday. Nickel ended at $22,150 from $22,125 a tonne. It has been in a steady downtrend since peaking at just under $29,500 in February, and could come under more pressure as mining companies race to increase production.
International Nickel Indonesia will invest $500 million over the next three or four years to develop a nickel project in Central Sulawesi, the miner's chief executive said on Friday. Lead ended at $2,580 a tonne while zinc finished at $2,254 from $2,260 a tonne. Aluminium closed at $2,500 from $2,509 a tonne and tin closed at $24,925 from $25,200 a tonne.