Copper was steady by the close of London Metal Exchange (LME) trade on Friday, recovering from early losses on light short-covering, dealers said. "The speculative sell-off first thing fizzled out and the shorts moved back in to cover. It's a steady close not far off yesterday's," one dealer said.
"I get the feeling the market wanted to a draw a line under this week and will start again fresh on Monday."
Copper traded at $3,563 a tonne in the last open outcry, down $1 from Thursday, bouncing from an early low $3,510 after a near-10,000 tonne rise in stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Traders said despite the stock rise nearby spreads were tightening which supported prices.
"The spreads have spooked the market up," another dealer said, adding that copper for tomorrow/next day delivery had traded towards $8-$9 backwardation.
The cash to three months spread widened to $210/215 backwardation.
Copper hit a record high of $3,670 on Tuesday, before dropping sharply mid-week, but market watchers said strong prices would remain a long-term feature.
"Commodity bull runs have lasted 15-20 years...We have got another nine to 17 years to go," US commodities guru Jim Rogers told Reuters in an interview.
In its most recent bulletin, the International Copper Study Group said the world refined copper deficit was 165,000 tonnes in the first five months of year, versus 677,000 tonnes in the same period in 2004.
"The ICSG has just released another set of price constructive supply and demand statistics for copper," Barclays Capital analyst Ingrid Sternby said in a note.
She added: "(That supports) our view that future production growth is likely to disappoint and that consumption patterns are improving."
Aluminium fell $9 to $1,887 but was seen trading sideways between $1,860 and $1,910.
Other metals were mixed with zinc up $12 at $1,354, lead $1 weaker at $855, nickel $175 softer at $14,750 and tin down $5 at $7,090.
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