Copper rises on recovering U.S. economy, postponed shipments to China

Copper hit a three-month high on Friday, marking a ninth consecutive daily advance, on signs of a still fragile but improving U.S. economic activity. Meanwhile, premiums for imported copper in China, worlds top consumer, remained near all-time highs following delays and disruptions of shipments.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures for September delivery traded at $3.370 per pound at 9:08 GMT, up 0.97% on the day. The industrial metal ranged between days high of $3.380, the highest since May 10, while days low stood at $3.339 a pound. The September contract rose 0.18% on Thursday, an eight daily gain in a row, extending current weeks advance to 1.8% after surging 6.5% the preceding two five-day periods.

Copper was further supported this week as overall controversial U.S. economic data on Thursday indicated the worlds biggest economy is expanding, despite the slow and fragile pace. The U.S. Department of Labor reported yesterday that last weeks Initial Jobless Claims declined to 320 000, the lowest since October 2007. This outperformed analysts’ expectations for a rise to 335 000 and was well below the preceding week’s upward revised reading of 335 000 from 333 000 people.

Meanwhile, manufacturing in the New York region expanded in August for a third month. The New York Empire Manufacturing Index for August stood at 8.24 but underperformed expectations for an advance to 10.00 from July’s reading of 9.46.

Xu Liping, an analyst at HNA Topwin Futures Co., said for Bloomberg: “U.S. indicators yesterday helped improve market sentiment. The economy in China, the world’s largest user, has gradually been showing signs of a stabilizing.”

Meanwhile, the industrial metal was also supported amid delays and disruptions of copper shipments to China, which pushed premiums to all-time record highs. The Asian countrys refined copper output fell to a five-month low in July due to maintenance works in some domestic smelters and supply outages.

Li Chunlan, a Beijing-based copper analyst at CRU, said for Bloomberg: “We’ve heard of a few delays and disruptions to several major suppliers’ shipments to China, which have reduced the availability of high-grade copper.”