By Anna Stablum Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Copper, little changed in London today, may fall for a fifth day on concern about the strength of the worldwide economic rebound after Japan’s economy expanded less than initially reported. Gross domestic product rose an annualized 1.3 percent, slower than the 4.8 percent reported last month, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo. The country is the world’s fourth-largest copper user. Stockpiles tracked by the London Metal Exchange climbed for a 27th day to the highest level since April 20. “It is a concern, because it looked like Japan was about to recover, and now it is struggling to maintain its growth again,” Alex Heath, head of industrial-metals trading at RBC Capital Markets in London, said by phone. Copper for three-month delivery slipped $10, or 0.1 percent, to $6,966 a metric ton on the LME at 10:38 a.m. local time. The contract last week climbed to a 15-month high of $7,170. Copper for March delivery added 0.4 percent to $3.1765 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex unit. Expectations of revived demand as economies emerge from recession have helped copper to more than double this year, along with the dollar’s slump and record first-half imports into China, the world’s biggest user. The U.S. currency has slid 5.5 percent this year against the euro as the Federal Reserve held interest rates near zero to revive the country’s economy. Larger Stockpiles “The Fed is choosing a policy of extreme caution,” Heath said. “That is what is keeping the dollar under pressure.” Copper inventories increased to 458,500 tons, according to a daily LME report, and have jumped 35 percent this year. Canceled warrants, or metal booked for delivery from warehouses, fell 28 percent today to 1,050 tons. That equals 0.2 percent of total exchange stockpiles, down from 21 percent in May. “Despite ever-rising stockpiles and sharply declining canceled warrants,” sentiment remains upbeat, Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said in a report today. The inventory gain “matters little at the moment with funds and other speculators still in the driver’s seat.” Among other LME metals for three-month delivery, nickel rose 0.4 percent to $16,220 a ton. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. agreed to buy BHP Billiton Ltd.’s shuttered Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Australia for $340 million with a goal of restarting operations as part of a plan to diversify production. A restart could add 50,000 tons of nickel to world supply a year, or about 3.6 percent of global output. Prices plunged 56 percent last year, forcing BHP to close the mine in January. Aluminum and zinc fell, while tin and lead gained. To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Stablum in London at astablum@bloomberg.net

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