Forexpros – Copper futures slumped to a three-week low on Thursday, as concerns over a slowdown in Chinese demand and lingering concerns over the euro zone’s debt crisis weighed on growth-related assets.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures for December delivery traded at USD3.352 a pound during European morning trade, tumbling 2.6%.
It earlier fell by as much as 2.95% to trade at USD3.317 a pound, the lowest price since October 24.
Government data released earlier showed that China’s trade surplus widened significantly less-than-expected in October, rising to USD17.0 billion from USD14.5 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to rise to USD26.1 billion.
Total export sales were USD157.5 billion in October, the lowest in five months, reigniting fears over the country’s economic outlook.
The data showed that China imported 383,507 tonnes of copper in October, almost unchanged from September’s imports. China’s imports of the industrial metal have dropped 13.5% through the first ten months of the year, compared to a year earlier.
China is the world’s largest copper user, accounting for approximately 40% of world copper consumption last year.
Meanwhile, mounting fears over Italy’s debt crisis continued to dominate sentiment. Earlier in the day, Italy auctioned EUR5 billion of one-year Treasury bills at an average yield of 6.08%.
Copper prices came off their lows following the auction, as the yield on 10-year Italian bonds eased to 6.97% after rising past the 7% level at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal sought international bailouts on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, officials in Greece were continuing with talks aimed at appointing a new coalition government.
Europe as a region is second after China in global demand for the industrial metal and worries over its economic growth have kept copper’s prices under pressure in recent weeks.
Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for December delivery fell 1.57% to trade at USD1,763.65 a troy ounce, while silver for December delivery dropped 2.05% to trade at USD33.65 a troy ounce.
Forexpros
