DJ BASE METALS: Comex Copper Seen 8 Cents Higher At Pit Open
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
December copper futures are expected to open floor trading around 8 cents a
pound higher Friday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session on
the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copper and other base metals in London were buoyed by bargain hunting and
recent announcements of some production cutbacks, traders there said. The
late-Thursday rally in U.S. equities and the euro also were supportive.
In other markets that have the potential to affect metals in the short term,
the euro is down to $1.2712 from $1.2775 late Thursday afternoon. In screen
trading ahead of the pit open, the December S&P 500 futures are down 7.50
points to 900.50. December crude oil is up 59 cents to $58.83 a barrel in
overnight activity.
U.S. economic data Friday include:
- October import prices at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT), forecast to fall 4%;
- October retail sales at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT), expected to be down 2.4%,
or down 1.6% when excluding autos;
- University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index at 9:55 a.m. EST (1455
GMT), forecast to dip to 55 from 57.6 at the end of October; and
- September business inventories at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), forecast to dip
0.1%.
In New York Thursday, copper futures fell amid ongoing economic worries, but
pared its overnight losses on position squaring in a market seemingly searching
for some kind of support, analysts said. December copper fell 3.15 cents to
settle at $1.6240 per pound.
Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses rose 1,475
metric tons Friday, leaving them at 274,100. The most recent Comex inventory
data, released late Thursday afternoon, were unchanged at 9,891 short tons.
Once-a-week data released on Fridays for the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed
a fall of 3,141 metric tons to 21,496.
-By Allen Sykora, Dow Jones Newswires; 541-318-8765;
allen.sykora@dowjones.com
