SMM Daily Review - 2011/12/7 Copper Market

SHANGHAI, Dec. 8 (SMM) –SHFE 1202 copper contract prices, the most active one, opened RMB 440/mt higher at 57,960/mt Wednesday. After the opening, SHFE three-month copper contract prices temporarily touched a high of RMB 58,200/mt before narrowly fluctuating around the RMB 58,000/mt level, with similar price trends on the prior day. At the tail of trading, as LME copper prices broke out resistance at USD 7,900/mt, SHFE three-month copper contract prices climbed, and finally closed at a recent high of RMB 58,360/mt, up RMB 840/mt or a gain of 1.46%. Positions for SHFE 1202 copper contracts were up 2,684 lots, while trading volumes were down 95,358 lots. Both long and short investors continued to await EU leaders’ meeting this week, and mainly made intraday operations. SHFE copper prices got stronger support at the low-end.

In the spot market, as SHFE copper prices fluctuated narrowly after a high open, and since imported copper continued to increase, discounts for domestic copper expanded all the way. Mainstream copper offers were quoted between discounts of negative RMB150-30/mt in the morning business. Daily traded prices for standard-quality copper were between RMB 58,150-58,250/mt, and RMB 58,250-58,350/mt for high-quality copper. Owing to discounted offers, supply for domestic copper decreased during the whole trading day. Large discounts for high-quality copper could entice some speculators to enter the market, while downstream producers still kept out of the market at prices above RMB 58,000/mt. As a result, copper consumption was very limited.