Forexpros – Copper futures were down for a fourth day on Monday, plunging to a 14-month low as ongoing fears over a potential Greek default and fresh concerns over China’s economic outlook dragged down prices.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures for December delivery traded at USD3.063 a pound during European morning trade, tumbling 2.8%.
It earlier fell by as much as 3.9% to trade at USD2.998 a pound, the lowest price since July 21, 2010.
Fears over a potential Greek default intensified over the weekend after Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Sunday that the country would not meet deficit targets this year, jeopardizing the approval of the next tranche of bailout funds for the debt-laden country.
According to reports, Greece needs the latest round of aid to avoid running out of money by mid-October.
Commodity traders will pay close attention to a meeting of finance ministers from the single currency bloc later in the day to discuss options for increasing the capacity of the region’s bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
The concerns over Greece’s debt woes, coupled with fresh fears over a slowdown in Chinese economic growth prompted investors to shun riskier assets, such as stocks and commodities and flock to traditional safe haven assets like the U.S. dollar.
The greenback jumped to an eight-month high against the euro, while the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.15% to trade at 79.40, after rising earlier to 79.67, the highest since January 18.
A stronger dollar saps demand for raw materials as an alternative investment and makes metals priced in the currency more expensive in terms of other monies.
Copper prices sank nearly 24% in September, the worst monthly performance since October 2008 and were down 26% in the third quarter. The industrial metal hit an all-time high of USD4.549 a pound on February 13.
Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for December delivery jumped 2.22% to trade at USD1,658.25 a troy ounce, while silver for December delivery rallied 2.79% to trade at USD30.92 a troy ounce.
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