(Updates prices)
Feb 9 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose on Thursday as
traders assessed prospects of consumption picking up pace within
weeks in the downstream sector of top consumer China.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was
up 1.5% at $9,025.50 a tonne by 0825 GMT, while the most-traded
copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ,
March, rose 0.7% to 68,640 yuan ($10,119.42) a tonne.
Investors have been betting on a recovery in China spurred
by country's removal of pandemic controls late in 2022. Demand
could rebound later this month as many workers returned to
factories following the Feb. 5 Chinese Lantern Festival.
"It is expected that the enthusiasm for downstream
procurement will gradually pick up this week," said Huatai
Futures in a report.
Huatai added that with the record-high investment plan
of State Grid Corp of China for 2023 and the strength of the
automobile sector, the outlook for copper demand was positive.
Both sectors are major users of copper.
Also supporting prices is a fall in the LME copper inventory to 65,100 tonnes, the lowest since November 2005.
A softer dollar also helped, making greenback-priced metals
cheaper to holders of other currencies.
Copper inventories, however, are rising in SHFE
warehouses and the import premium in China remains subdued,
preventing prices from a stronger rally.
LME aluminium rose 0.3% to $2,487.50 a tonne, tin 1.6% to $28,065 a tonne, zinc 1.1% to $3,165 a
tonne, lead 2.1% to $2,165 a tonne and nickel 0.4% to $27,510 a tonne.
SHFE aluminium fell 0.9% to 18,930 yuan a tonne, zinc 0.6% to 23,280 yuan a tonne and tin 0.2% to
218,690 yuan a tonne. Nickel rose 0.2% to 210,500 yuan
a tonne and lead increased 0.3% to 15,265 yuan a tonne.
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(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips and Bradley Perrett)
mai.nguyen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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