LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Copper eased in early trade on Thursday,
pressured by gains in the U.S. dollar, although expectations that supply will
remain tight this year are underpinning prices.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced commodities such as base metals
more expensive for holders of other currencies.
"The internal fundamentals for copper and a number of the metals remain
bullish, but not bullish enough at present to counter the selling as commodity
trades are closed as hedges against dollar weakness are unwound," said William
Adams, an analyst at BaseMetals.com.
Higher prices are pressuring Chinese buying, analysts said, while the
resolution of a strike at Chilean state copper miner Codelco, which buoyed
prices last week, is also weighing on the market.
However, production outages are still foremost in investors' minds, with
some of Codelco's facilities still not up and running, and a new strike possible
in Peru, the world's second-largest producer of the red metal.
At 9:40 a.m., London Metal Exchange copper for three-month delivery was
trading at $8,420 per tonne against $8,430 per tonne at the close on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, lead was steady after yesterday dipping to its lowest level in 3
1/2 months, trading at $2,449 per tonne against $2,420 per tonne at the close on
Wednesday.
Among other metals traded on the LME, zinc for delivery in three months was
down at $2,245 per tonne against $2,253, while aluminium was down at $2,915 per
tonne against $2,920.
Nickel eased to $28,375 per tonne against $28,545, while tin traded higher
at $24,450 per tonne against $24,000.
jan.harvey@thomsonreuters.com
har/slj
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