New York copper extended gains of the last two days on Thursday, helped by the dollar's weaker tone against the euro and a set of US data showing an improving economic scenario, traders said.
Asked if he thought dollar weakness was behind copper's latest rise, Steve Platt, analyst at Archer Financial Services, said, "Oh, yeah. No doubt. Given strength in the stock market, still seems like there's sufficient liquidity in the global financial system to maintain growth, probably tipping it to almost too much. I think that's helping support these metals."
Copper for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division climbed 1.60 cents to $3.71 a lb. Earlier, it pushed up to its highest level in three days at $3.7320 from a higher low for the third consecutive day at $3.6725. On Monday, it slid to $3.5810, a two-week low.
Comex estimated 10 am EDT copper volume at 4,339 lots. Open interest rose by 381 to 86,905 lots by Tuesday. The Labour Department also reported claims that US jobless benefits fell sharply in the latest week.
"Great numbers. US trade and initial jobless claims both better than expected, with the US trade deficit smaller than expected on a weaker dollar. We take another step away from the hard-landing scenario that people feared for 2008," said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at The Bank of New York Mellon in New York.