Copper Futures Prices Seen Rising This Week on Favourable Policies, Spot Prices to Fall

SHANGHAI, Feb 27 (SMM) – It is expected that additional favourable policies to be announced ahead of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) will further spur domestic consumption, thus helping copper prices reach higher levels. The US core PCE price index released last Friday did not fall as expected, and the US dollar index will continue to rise, capping the gains in risky assets such as copper.

 The most active SHFE copper contract prices are expected to move between 68,000-70,500/mt this week, and LME copper will trade between $8,800-9,100/mt. In the spot market, the slow recovery of consumption and the current high level of copper prices will dampen downstream purchasing. Spot trading this week is expected to resemble last week. Spot discounts are expected to move between 130-70 yuan/mt this week.