SMM Morning Review - 2011/8/16 Copper Market

SHANGHAI, Aug. 16 (SMM) –The economic data in the US remained disappointing overnight, with the New York manufacturing data for August unexpected falling for a third consecutive month. However, markets were focused on French and German summit and kept optimistic, helping the euro surge and pushing the US dollar down 1%. Meanwhile, data showed Japan's economy shrank during April-June was less than expected, and Google announced to make acquisition of Motorola, sending the US equity markets up nearly 2%. As a result, investors became positive towards Asian copper demand and made some purchases, which helped LME copper prices increase 0.5% and close at USD 8,933/mt. It was worth noticing that due to a lack of self-related factors, LME copper price gains were significantly restricted. Small-scale buying interest was seen during the European and American trading hours, but there were no signs of circular buying.

Barack Obama said this morning he would in September put forward a specific plan to boost the US economy, create jobs and control deficit, which will limit losses in the dollar. Together with signs of moving higher in Comex copper prices, LME copper prices are expected to move upward during Tuesday's Asian trading hours, with prices expected between USD 8,900-9,020/mt. In domestic markets, domestic stock markets will open higher due to a lift by US equity markets, but the movements later will not be optimistic as trading volumes contracted on the previous trading day. Therefore, SHFE copper prices will open slightly higher, and followed LME copper prices to move higher, but the high-end will be restricted by domestic stock markets. SHFE 1110 copper contract prices will move in the RMB 66,900-67,800 range.