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Sunday, May 10, 2009

Copper, Nickel Rose

London copper futures rose on Tuesday on positive purchasing data from China and signs of recovery in U.S. housing, catching up after a three-day weekend to gains made in Shanghai.

But Shanghai gave up its early advances on worries prices have risen too fast.

Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange MCU3 rose. Turnover was brisk.

There is a massive amount of selling in Shanghai related to arbitrage and it's dragging down LME. Focus is very much on the physical market -- there was a big rise in prices yesterday which may have reversed today.

Overnight data underpinned the market. Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose for a second straight month in March, while construction spending edged higher, suggesting moderation in the long housing slump.

That fed into the positive sentiment generated by a survey of Chinese manufacturing that provided fresh evidence that massive fiscal and monetary stimulus is reviving the world's third-largest economy. Traders said Shanghai's direction for the rest of week would be dictated by London.

Nickel MNI3 rose 2.5 percent to $12,200, having touched $12,320 earlier. The market has been battered by a collapse in stainless demand, but the world's biggest stainless steel producer, Acerinox said on Monday it saw the market recovering in the third quarter after poor sales and weak prices pushed the Spanish firm into a first quarter loss.

The stability of nickel in recent months together with the very low level of stocks in all markets gives us confidence in a recovery of the market in the third quarter.

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