Shanghai copper creeps higher

Shanghai copper futures rose on Monday, tracking gains in London Metal Exchange copper prices late last week, but trade was relatively thin due to a market holiday in London and New York.
The LME is closed on Monday for a bank holiday and US markets are shut for Memorial Day. The most active copper August contract ended the session up 1,690 yuan from the previous close at 75,680 yuan ($9,460) after between 75,000 and 75,990 yuan.
"Copper is trading fairly lightly today because London and New York are closed," said Lie Rong of Great Wall Futures. "But it still has to catch up with London's moves on Friday." He said domestic aluminium was still pressured by a high level of stock at home and also by the news that export tax rebates could be cut, which the market had been worrying about.
"Even though the domestic outlook is pretty bearish for aluminium, we are seeing a lot more trading volume in Shanghai which is Ke," he said.
He said small investors could trade Shanghai aluminium because it was less volatile and had lower prices than copper, while producers were willing to sell into the futures market because of higher liquidity and better prices than those on the spot market.
The Shanghai exchange said on Friday that copper stocks monitored by the exchange fell by 137 tonnes in the week ended on Thursday to 45,320 tonnes, while aluminium stocks declined by 8,088 tonnes to 176,514.
Shanghai's most active August aluminium futures contract gained 20 yuan from the previous close to end at 21,990 yuan. China's imports and exports of metals mostly slowed in April, with refined copper imports for the month falling 33.2 percent from a year before to 71,106 tonnes, official Customs figures showed on Monday.
On Friday, LME copper for delivery in three months rose $140, or 1.7 percent, to end at $8,230 on position squaring ahead of a three-day weekend, while zinc closed up $260, or 7.4 percent, at $3,770 on a decline in inventories.
LME zinc stocks continued to fall, down 1,075 tonnes on Friday, to a new five-year low of 242,025 tonnes. On Friday, nickel hit a new record high of $23,050 a tonne on news that a strike loomed at major Canadian producer Inco Ltd.
It closed up $900, or 4.1 percent, at $23,000. Inco said late on Sunday that it and the trade union representing workers at its nickel operations in Sudbury, Ontario were continuing to negotiate a new contract.
The union, representing about 3,100 employees at the mines, smelters, refineries and processors in Sudbury, has been given a strong mandate to strike should workers reject Inca's offer.