Shanghai Futures Exchange copper finished up 0.9 percent at 36,350 yuan ($5,534) a tonne on Friday in the last trading session before Lunar new Year. Trade will resume on Monday February 15. Ahead of the holiday, weekly copper, zinc and lead deliveries to the ShFE warehouses surged. Copper stocks jumped by 29,317 tonnes, or 13.8 percent, zinc by 6.6 percent, while lead stocks more than doubled, reversing the fall from the prior week.
Stocks of refined lead dived 57 percent last week to a record low, which drove a rally in prices. "In the past few days, dollar weakness has certainly supported the copper price," said analyst Helen Lau at Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong. "But looking at the longer term time horizon, there has been some improvement on the supply side, so overall we should not be too bearish on the copper outlook."
Given price-related cutbacks and shutdowns announced in the past six months, consultancy CRU anticipates a loss of 610,000 tonnes of contained copper from mine production this year. In news, several roadblocks to copper supply lifted. Papua New Guinea copper miner Ok Tedi Mining Ltd said its board has approved a restart of its operations on March 1, after the mine was put on care and maintenance in August. A government official said Indonesia is confident US miner Freeport McMoRan Inc FCX.N will be issued with an extension of its copper concentrate export permit next week. Elsewhere, Belgian zinc producer Nyrstar NV plans to wind down a marketing agreement with Noble Group at the end of the year, after a rival commodity trader last year injected funds into the producer in return for metal shipments, Bloomberg reported, citing CEO Bill Scotting.
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