Copper Climbs, Trimming Weekly Loss, as China Data Boost Outlook

Copper rose for the first time in four days, paring a weekly decline, after China’s total exports beat estimates, helping sustain a growth rebound in the world’s biggest user of the metal. Industrial metals climbed.

Copper for three-month delivery increased as much as 0.6 percent to $8,251.50 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and was at $8,242.50 at 12:27 p.m. in Seoul. The price has dropped 0.6 percent this week. The contract for delivery in May rose 0.2 percent to 59,790 yuan ($9,589) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
China’s overseas shipments increased 25 percent, higher than the 17.5 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. A manufacturing purchasing managers’ index released Feb. 1 showed a fourth month of expansion. China’s economy expanded 7.9 percent in the final three months of 2012 from a year earlier, reversing a seven-quarter deceleration.
“A series of macro indicators out of China are showing improvements,” Park Jong Beom, a senior trader at Seoul-based Tong Yang Securities Inc., said by phone today. “Copper demand is likely to increase toward the second half of this year as we may see economies recovering.”
Copper production will lag behind demand by 6,000 tons this year after a surplus of 216,000 tons last year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report yesterday. Prices for immediate delivery will average $8,458 a ton this year, up from $7,959 a ton last year, the bank said.
The metal for delivery in March gained 0.5 percent to $3.746 a pound on the Comex in New York.