Copper rose on Tuesday as support from a strong euro helped cushion concerns about short-term demand in China after its central bank moved to tighten the money supply. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) issued cash-draining forward bond repurchase agreements on Tuesday, sucking 48 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) out of the system, pushing up the cost of money after unexpectedly strong credit growth in January.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange, untraded in rings, was last bid at $7,190 a tonne before the close, from a last bid of $7,170 on Monday. "The PBOC's decision is predominantly on traders' minds today," Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade in Dublin, said. "Given that the Chinese growth (rate) is already a major concern for many, the reduction in liquidity by the PBOC is not helping the metal."
China is the biggest consumer of copper, which is used in construction and power cables. It imported record volumes of copper last month, partly for consumption and partly to ease tight credit conditions. Goldman Sachs sees Chinese bonded inventories at 700,000 tonnes, up from 550,000 tonnes since the beginning of the year, it said in a note.
The euro hit a seven-week high against the dollar, which was trading at a six-week low against a basket of currencies. A weak US currency underpins industrial metals by making it less expensive for foreign investors to purchase dollar-priced commodities. "We should see a generally firmer tone in most commodity markets over the short term as softer US macro data should keep the dollar under pressure and provide further support for the (base metals) group," Ed Meir, an analyst at INTL FCStone, said.
In the week ahead, the focus will be on the US Federal Reserve's tapering of monetary stimulus, with the release of its minutes on Wednesday, and on China's slowdown, with a purchasing managers' index due on Thursday. Both factors have been behind this year's sell-off in emerging markets. US manufacturing last week recorded its biggest drop in more than 4-1/2 years in January as cold weather disrupted production. It was the latest indication that the world's biggest economy got off to a weak start this year.
Global miner BHP Billiton topped market forecasts with a 31 percent rise in first-half profit on Tuesday but gave a cautious outlook on Chinese growth. Its copper output grew by 6 percent, and total full-year 2014 production is seen unchanged at 1.7 million tonnes. It also expected the copper market to move back into deficit in the medium term and for supply surpluses in nickel and aluminium to ease.
Benchmark three-month aluminium on the LME firmed after producer Alcoa Inc announced it would close its Point Henry smelter and two rolling mills in Australia, removing around 190,000 tonnes of annual capacity, equal to about 10 percent of the country's total output. The LME three-month aluminium contract closed at $1,766 a tonne from a last bid of $1,732 on Monday. It has risen 1.7 percent so far this month after falling 5 percent last month and more than 13 percent last year.
United Company Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer, also indicated on Tuesday that its output of the metal could fall to 3.5 million tonnes this year from 3.9 million last year. The announcements underscored the dire market conditions facing producers amid a flood of new Chinese capacity. LME three-month lead closed at $2,173 a tonne, from $2,150 at Monday's close, tin closed at $23,150 per tonne from $23,125 and zinc ended at $2,068 a tonne from $2,059 at the close on Monday. Nickel, untraded at the close, was bid at $14,460 a tonne from $14,385.
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