Red metal rises for third straight day

US economic data pull up metal prices

Copper prices rose at Comex for the third straight day on Friday, 28 January 2011. Economic data in the course of the week at US pulled up red metal prices on Friday once again.

At USA, copper futures for December delivery ended higher by 3 cents (0.8%) at $4.37 a pound on Friday. Prices gained 1.4% for the week. For the year, copper prices are lower by 1%.



At LME prices rose by $89 (0.9%) to $9,530 a ton.

For the year 2010, copper gained 33%. It was the ninth rise for the red metal in ten years.

In the currency market on Friday, the dollar index traded with strength for the entire day and ended 0.6% higher.

Among economic data expected for the day, the Commerce Department on Friday reported that gross domestic product rose at a 3.2% annual rate in the fourth quarter, faster than the 2.6% pace seen during the third quarter. But market had expected 3.5% growth for the fourth quarter.

Also on Friday, a report showed that the gauge of consumer sentiment dipped to 74.2 in January from 74.5 in December on concerns about rising food and fuel prices.

Earlier during the week, data showed that pending home sales in US proved to be a positive surprise. They climbed 2.0% when a 0.5% decline had been expected.

In the latest report during the week, Chile raised its copper price forecast to $4.17 a pound in 2011, from a previously forecast $3.40-$3.50 a pound, due to strong demand from emerging markets. The report also detailed that copper demand is expected to rise 5.4% in 2011, including a 25% rise in demand from Russia and a 6% rise from China. The commission also projected global copper mining output to reach 16.5 million tons in 2011, up 345,000 tons from the previous year.

Meanwhile, International Copper Study Group's January bulletin reported during the week that world refined copper consumption exceeded production by 404,000 tons in the first 10 months of 2010, compared to a surplus of 32,000 tons in the same period of 2009. World refined copper output in January to October 2010 was 15.802 million tons, while consumption totaled 16.206 million tons.

Among other metals traded in the LME on Friday, lead ended 0.4% higher at $2,466 a ton and zinc ended 1.5% higher at $2,350 a ton. Nickel rose 0.5% at $26,900. Aluminum rose 0.4% to end at $2,474 a ton.