COPPER has settled down for the first time in six sessions, as investors paused to assess whether recent gains were justified.
Investors also sided with caution ahead of a much anticipated US employment data.
“We have come a long way, and it was time to take some money off the table and assess things,” said Frank Lesh, broker and futures analyst with Future Path Trading.
“There’s also a little bit of caution ahead of the employment data tomorrow.”
KEY COMMODITY PRICES: oil, gold, base metals, livestock and wheat
The non-farm payrolls data are expected to show a slower pace of contraction in the US labour market.
Copper for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX division fell US6 cents to end at $US2.7520 a pound, pulling further back from yesterday’s climb to $US2.8385 — the highest level since early October.
On the London Metal Exchange (LME), three-month copper closed at $US6025 a tonne, compared with a closing bid at $US6,199 yesterday when it hit a 10-month high of $US6235.
“There has been a lot of speculative interest in base metals. Copper hasn’t paused in the last six days, a tremendous run,” said Justin Lennon, analyst at Mitsui Bussan Commodities…read more at The Australian
