SHANGHAI, Aug. 30 (SMM) –The LME copper market was closed Monday. The US on Monday evening announced personal consumption expenditures for July rose 0.8%, well above the estimated 0.5%, and better than a 0.1% drop in June. After the release of the strong data, the US dollar index fell to 73.52 and closed slightly down. Besides, Hurricane Irene just had a limited impact on big cities in the US, easing investor worries, which helped US equity markets close more than 2% higher. Gold prices pared gains and lost 1,800 points.

On Tuesday morning, Obama said that he would release the new jobs stimulus plan next week, and that some of the plan would be realized by improving infrastructures, which will lift market expectations for future copper demand. In this context, some speculative funds will be withdrawn from gold markets and flow to resources assets like copper, which is positive for today's copper markets. However, the weak Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity Index for August released Monday will weigh down LME copper prices, which will move between USD 8,980-9,100/mt during Tuesday's Asian trading hours. In domestic market, Chinese stock markets will open higher due to rising US equity markets on the previous trading day, but will continue to close down given cash flow pressures at the month's end. Therefore, SHFE three-month copper contract prices will meet strong resistance at RMB 68,000/mt, and SHFE 1111 copper contract prices will move in the RMB 67,300-68,100/mt range.