Copper Falls for Second Day on Bets Greek Debt Crisis Will Erode Metal Use
Copper fell for the sixth time in seven sessions on concern that Greece’s debt crisis may damp global economic growth, curbing demand for industrial metals.
European Union officials failed to reach agreement on a new bailout for Greece to prevent the first euro-area default, sparking a global rout in equities and sending the euro lower against the dollar. Copper has dropped 11 percent from a record $4.6575 a pound on Feb. 15 as manufacturing slowed in China, the world’s largest metal buyer.
“It is clear that the trend is downward for the economies and for the base metals as a result,” Dennis Gartman, an economist, said in his Gartman Letter. “We need to sell base metals.”
Copper futures for September delivery dropped 0.3 cent, or 0.1 percent, to close at $4.136 a pound at 1:22 p.m. on the Comex in New York.
Yesterday, the dollar jumped the most since August against a basket of major currencies, eroding the appeal of commodities as an alternative investment.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months declined $89, or 1 percent, to $9,065 a metric ton ($4.11 a pound).
“The commodity markets will be closely watching the goings-on in the euro zone over the next few days,” Edward Meir, a senior analyst at MF Global Holdings Ltd. in Darien, Connecticut, said in a report. Support at $9,000 “will eventually give way,” Meir said.
Lead, aluminum, zinc, nickel and tin also dropped in London.
To contact the reporters on this story: Agnieszka Troszkiewicz in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net; Yi Tian in New York at ytian8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net
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