SHANGHAI, Aug. 1 (SMM) –SHFE 1110 copper contract prices, the most active one, opened up RMB 160/mt at RMB 73,100/mt on Monday, with prices fluctuating narrowly during the whole trading day. SHFE three-month copper contract prices were pushed up towards RMB 73,500/mt by a flood of capital inflows, reaching briefly to RMB 73,590/mt, but fluctuated around above moving averages after meeting resistance. Near the midday trading session, as both China's official PMI data and PMI figure released by HSBC showed slowing activities in the manufacturing industry, SHFE three-month copper contract prices followed trends in LME copper prices and China's stock markets to experience a small round of declines, with prices breaking the daily moving average. In the afternoon session, SHFE three-month copper contract prices were still weighed down by the daily moving average, but returned above the daily moving average as position closings by shorts exceeded 4,000 lots at the tail of trading. Finally, the most actively-traded copper contract prices closed at RMB 73,440/mt, up RMB 400/mt or a gain of 0.55%. Positions for the most actively-traded copper contracts were up 9,640 lots, while trading volumes were down 1,756 lots, with the longs in the dominant position. With technical indicators pointing upward, SHFE three-month copper contract prices would likely move up further for the foreseeable future.