* Shanghai copper firm following last Friday's rally
* China Sept copper imports data expected on Wednesday
(Adds comment, update prices)
By Rujun Shen and Edmund Klamann
SHANGHAI, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Shanghai copper rose less than
1 percent on Monday, following on from Friday's rally, as
investors bet on rising demand to offset currently soft
fundamentals. London copper recovered from Friday's losses,
but was nearly $100 below the three-week high of $6,363 a tonne
hit on Thursday.
"Investors are optimistic on copper prices in the medium
and long term. Consumption in the cable sector hasn't seen much
improvement, but in electronics plants consumption is a lot
better than last year," said Lin Yuhui, deputy general manager
of Jinhui Futures.
Shanghai's benchmark third-month copper futures contract
SCFc3 closed up 0.6 percent at 49,100 yuan ($7,194) a tonne,
building on the 1.3 percent gain last Friday, the first trading
day after the market closed for an 8-day public holiday.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange MCU3
gained $34 to $6,264 a tonne by 0701 GMT, addding to last
week's 6 percent gain, its strongest in 9 weeks.
Investors are eyeing China's preliminary September trade
data, due on Wednesday, to see whether demand from the world's
top consumer of base metals is holding up.
Imports of unwrought copper and semi-finished copper
products are expected to fall for the third straight month,
after record imports in the first half of the year.
[ID:ID:nHKG142718]
China's high copper imports would not necessarily end in
serious supply surplus, as real consumption has picked up, said
Zhu Yanzhong, an analyst at Jinrui Futures.
"The higher consumption helps digest some of the imported
copper. If consumption remains at the current level, we may
even see some tightness in supply."
Supporting the market, Shanghai's copper stockpiles dropped
7 percent last week to 89,822 tonnes, according to exchange
data released on Friday, down nearly 14 percent from a peak of
104,248 tonnes in mid-September. [MTL/CNSTX]
"Exchange copper stockpiles have fallen for two straight
weeks, and consumption of the metal is likely to rise in
October," said Zeng Chao, an analyst at Everbright Futures.
LME aluminium MAL3 shed $7 to $1,902 a tonne, after a
near 6 percent gain in the last week. Shanghai aluminium
SAFc3 inched up 0.3 percent to 14,895 yuan.
LME nickel MNI3 rose 1.2 percent to $18,980 a tonne, and
LME lead MPB3 edged up $11 to $2,260, despite the record high
stockpiles of both metals.
The annual London Metal Exchange week, the flagship event
for the industry, kicks off on Monday.
Base metals prices at 0701 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2008 Pct chg
09
LME Cu 6264.00 34.00 +0.55 3060.00
104.71
SHFE Cu* 49100.00 270.00 +0.55 23840.00
105.96
LME Alum 1902.00 -7.00 -0.37 1535.00
23.91
SHFE Alum* 14895.00 50.00 +0.34 11540.00
29.07
COMEX Cu** 283.00 0.15 +0.05 139.50
102.87
LME Zinc 2054.00 21.00 +1.03 1208.00
70.03
SHFE Zinc 15810.00 80.00 +0.51 10120.00
56.23
LME Nickel 18980.00 230.00 +1.23 11700.00
62.22
LME Lead 2260.00 11.00 +0.49 999.00
126.23
LME Tin 14725.00 -75.00 -0.51 10700.00
37.62
LME/Shanghai arb^ 918
Dollar/yuan 6.8248\6.8254
** 1st contract month for COMEX copper
* 3rd contact month for SHFE aluminium, copper and zinc
^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE
third month
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
