BASE METALS: Copper Traders Looking To Data For Direction

NEW YORK, Aug 23, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) --

Copper futures were near steady Monday as participants awaited further indications of the strength of the economic recovery to give the industrial metal direction.

The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, was recently up 0.25 cent, or 0.08%, at $3.3140 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"Since there's really no news, traders are kind of content to sit on the sidelines," said Larry Young, president of Covenant Trading in Chicago.

Participants are looking toward data later in the week to provide direction for the metal, prices for which are closely linked to economic cycles since the metal is widely used in manufacturing and construction.

Of particular interest will be U.S. existing home sales for July, due Tuesday, new residential sales on Wednesday, and the preliminary second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product figure, a key market-moving data point due for release Friday.

Last week, copper futures rose as much as 4.2% to $3.41 pound amid a bit of a recovery in the equity markets, but a wave of disappointing jobs and business conditions data Thursday reversed that momentum. Copper's Friday settlement was just 1.2% above its close from a week earlier.

The lack of movement in copper price Monday comes amid typical summer slowness, with trading thinned by vacations in a time when construction-related orders tend to be fewer.

Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange-monitored warehouses rose 475 metric tons Monday, leaving them at 402,200. The most recent Comex inventory data, released late Friday afternoon, were down 44 short tons at 96,462 short tons.