SHANGHAI, Mar. 15 (SMM) – The US announced better-than-expected PPI for February and that initial jobless claims dropped surprisingly last week. In response, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up for ten straight days and hit historical highs, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index settled two points below its all-time closing high. European markets surged by 1.1% as investor sentiment was lifted, a fresh 5-year high. Moreover, the US dollar index suffered profit-taking following continuous increases and began falling, lending support to commodity markets. As such, LME copper prices held firm around USD 7,800/mt despite profit-taking, and finally closed at USD 7,804/mt, a slight gain of USD 14/mt.
The latest data revealed that Greek unemployment rate saw another historical high, but positive US economic data should reassure markets to some extent. Therefore, SMM believes that LME copper will continue fluctuating between 5 and 20-day moving average, with prices between USD 7,770-7,850/mt during Friday's Asian trading session. SHFE copper prices will hover in a narrow range after starting slightly higher, and the most active copper contract is expected to shift to SHFE 1307 copper contract. SHFE 1306 copper contract will move between RMB 56,500-57,000/mt. Shanghai spot copper premiums are estimated between RMB 0-110/mt versus SHFE 1303 copper contract.
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