Copper May Decline on Concern Demand Will Falter, Survey Shows

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) –Copper may fall on concern demand for the metal will weaken as economies slow, a survey showed.

Nine of 12 analysts, investors and traders surveyed by Bloomberg, or 75 percent, said prices will fall next week. Two predicted a gain and one forecast little change. Copper for three-month delivery was down 4.8 percent for this week at $9,362 a metric ton by 5:30 p.m. yesterday on the London Metal Exchange.

Service industries in the U.S., the largest part of the nation’s economy, expanded in July at the slowest pace in 17 months and European services and manufacturing growth eased to the slowest pace in almost two years, reports showed Aug. 3. The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities has dropped 12 percent from this year’s high in May.

"The outlook is worsening for many Western economies," John Meyer, an analyst at Fairfax IS in London, said by e-mail Aug. 3. "This will start to dampen demand for Asian-produced products and services."

The red bars on the attached chart are derived by subtracting bearish forecasts from bullish estimates, with readings below zero signaling the majority of respondents expect a decline. The green line shows the copper price. The survey data shown are as of July 29.

The weekly copper survey has forecast prices accurately in 71 of the past 148 weeks, or 48 percent of the time.

This week’s survey results: Bullish: 2 Bearish: 9 Hold: 1