Copper Extends Weekly Fall as China Industrial Output Slows
Copper extended a weekly decline as industrial production in the world’s largest commodity consumer slowed to the lowest level in more than two years.
Three-month delivery copper fell as much as 0.3 percent to $7,685 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, and traded at $7,695 by 3:05 p.m. Shanghai time. The contract lost 2.5 percent this week.
China’s industrial production growth rose 12.4 percent in November from a year earlier, the slowest since August 2009 and fell short of a median forecast of 12.6 percent by a Bloomberg News survey of 34 economists.
“Slowing industrial output indicated that downstream demand is being threatened, and this is certainly a concern,” Liang Lijuan, an analyst at Cofco Futures Co., said by phone from Beijing.
Copper for February delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed 1.4 percent lower at 57,070 ($8,964) a ton. The March-delivery contract on the Comex in New York declined 0.2 percent to $3.4925 a pound.
Consumer prices in China rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier in November, the slowest pace in 14 months, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed today. The number was lower than all estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of 35 economists that had a median forecast of 4.5 percent, and fell from a 5.5 percent year-on-year growth in October.
“Policy focus is shifting from ‘managing inflation’ to ’support growth’ and ’preventing financial risks’,” said economists at Barclays Capital led by Chang Jian in a research report today.
On the LME, aluminum was unchanged at $2,065 a ton. Lead fell 0.2 percent to $2,099 a ton, and nickel dropped 0.8 percent to $18,150 a ton. Zinc rose 0.3 percent to $1,990 a ton, and tin gained 0.3 percent to $20,200 a ton.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Helen Sun in Shanghai at hsun30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net
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