SMM Brief on Copper Futures on Aug. 23

SHANGHAI, Aug. 23 (SMM) –SHFE 1111 copper contract prices, the most active one, opened down RMB 140/mt at RMB 66,3700/mt on Tuesday. After opening, SHFE three-month copper contract prices returned to fluctuate near the daily moving average after briefly falling to RMB 66,060/mt. Later, HSBC’s China PMI was announced, and was better than the previous figure, pushing up SHFE three-month copper prices. However, due to a lack of more buying force, SHFE three-month copper contract prices temporarily met resistance after touching the 5-day moving average of RMB 66,490/mt, and then narrowly fluctuated around the daily moving average. In the afternoon session, as domestic stock markets increased more than 1.5% after initially falling down, and since LME copper prices rallied to USD 8,850/mt when the US dollar index fell below 74 points, SHFE three-month copper contract prices gradually moved higher from support at the daily moving average, and then reversed earlier declines, with an intraday high at RMB 66,700/mt. Finally, SHFE 1111 copper contract prices closed at RMB 66,650/mt, up RMB 140/mt or 0.21%. Positions for SHFE 1111 copper contracts were down 2,696 lots, and trading volumes were down 36,732 lots. Despite advantages of the longs, SHFE three-month copper contract prices were expected to fluctuate in the short term due to strong resistance at the 10-day moving average.