Shanghai copper slipped 0.3 percent to 45,240 yuan ($6,650) a tonne on Monday as risk aversion climbed following a terror attack in London, while zinc and nickel prices tracked renewed weakness in steel markets.Further out however, price should find support from falling mine supply growth, said INTL FC Stone in a report. "We think copper should hold its own in June, as the Grasberg strike provides support ... (and) falling stock levels on both the LME and Shanghai should also help," it added.
Freeport McMoRan Inc said last month that mining and milling rates at its Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia had been affected by an extended strike. "Concern about moderating demand trends in China including a slowdown in real estate price growth have unnerved the market," INTL FC Stone added. It sees copper trading between $5,520 and $5,825 this month.
Chinese prices for the metal, used to galvanise steel, slipped by 1.1 percent, tracking a 2.9-percent fall in ShFE rebar. The World Bank on Sunday maintained its forecast that global growth will improve to 2.7 percent this year, citing a pickup in manufacturing and trade, improved market confidence and a recovery in commodity prices. Activity in China's services sector expanded at the fastest pace in four months in May thanks to a surge in new orders, a private business survey showed, helping to offset worries about unexpected weakness in manufacturing.
China agreed to delay an 8 percent quota for electric and hybrid vehicles by a year until 2019, an auto industry source said on Friday, in a major concession for German carmakers seeking to expand in the world's largest auto market. Electric cars are a major growing demand segment for copper.
Comments
Comments are closed.