Copper shot higher for a second-straight day on Monday, surging 7 percent to its priciest in nearly a month, after encouraging data from top consumer China and hopes for a eurozone debt deal boosted investor confidence.
It was the red metal's strongest two-day rally since late January 2009 - outpacing all advancers in the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index for a second consecutive day - as technical momentum gathered pace and Asian demand signals continued to strengthen, providing further support to the short-covering rally. Copper's gains fed through to the broader base metals, with nickel and tin jumping over 6 percent, lead up more than 5 percent, and zinc tacking on more than 4 percent.
"It looks to me like commodities in general have made a bottom, and are going to go higher ... the worst is in the past," said Michael K. Smith, president of T & K Futures and Options Inc in Port St. Lucie, Florida. In New York, the key December COMEX contract climbed 22.60 cents, or 7 percent, to settle at $3.4490 per lb, away from a session peak at $3.47 - an area of resistance over the past month that could trigger another up-leg, if broken, analysts said.