SHANGHAI, Apr. 23 (SMM) – On Tuesday, Valeant’s offer to acquire Allergan, and better-than-expected performance reported by Netflix and Harley-Davidson shored up the market, with the US stocks closing higher. S&P 500 rose for a sixth straight day. However, investors remained cautious before release of Chinese data. LME copper prices underperformed other base metals and finished down USD 16/mt to USD 6,657/mt.

SHFE 1407 copper contract prices opened at RMB 46,580/mt at night session on Tuesday and drifted higher before meeting resistance at RMB 46,700/mt. The SHFE July-delivery copper finally ended the session up RMB 150/mt at RMB 46,640/mt. Traded volumes increased to around 110,000 lots, while positions for the most active contract grew by 13,192 lots.

US existing home sales rebounded in March to an annualized rate of 4.59 million, down 0.2% from February, a smaller fall than the estimated 0.9% decline, indicating that the recovery in the nation’s property market was gaining momentum. Meanwhile, the Richmond Fed’s manufacturing index for April was reported at 7, handily beating market expectations. Recent financial reports released by major US enterprises also were encouraging, helping boost market sentiment and sending main three US share indexes up across the board. The eurozone’s April consumer confidence index posted a new high last seen in October, 2007, which pushed up the euro to 1.3824 against the US dollar.

The Ukrainian government declared to resume anti-terrorism operations in eastern regions of the country and blamed two deaths on pro-Russian protestors, while the Pentagon also announced to launch military exercise in east Europe. These intensifying moves suggested that the ceasefire agreement reached in Geneva last week was no longer effective.

The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission made public late Tuesday a third batch of 19 enterprises planning for IPOs. As a result, the number of enterprises disclosing IPO plans reached a total of 65, adding to downward pressure on China’s stock markets.

The US dollar index eased 0.07%, while the euro closed up 0.09% against the US dollar. Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed, but European and US stocks all ended higher. LME base metals prices finished with gains, except for copper.

On April 23, SHFE copper for July Delivery is expected to trade between RMB 46,300-46,900/mt. Copper is expected to be offered at premiums of RMB 500-600/mt against SHFE 1405 copper contract prices in China’s physical market with cargo holders more aggressively selling goods and imported copper entering the market.