Copper Rises in London as Report Shows Gain in U.S. Home Sales

LONDON, July 24 -- Copper rose in London, extending a rally to a nine-month high, as a report showed U.S. home sales increased in June for a third month, boosting the outlook for metals demand. Futures were little changed in New York.

    Purchases of previously occupied homes climbed 3.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.89 million, the fastest since October, the National Association of Realtors said today. Sales topped the median forecast of 68 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Copper prices jumped to a nine-month high yesterday partly on speculation that rebounding growth will boost raw-materials use.

    "There are definite signs that the global economy is at least bottoming and improving," said William O'Neill, a partner at Logic Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. "Base- metal prices will move higher."

    Copper for delivery in three months rose $30, or 0.6 percent, to $5,530 a metric ton ($2.51 a pound) on the London Metal Exchange. Earlier, the price reached $5,565, the highest since Oct. 14.

    Futures for September delivery slipped 0.15 cent to $2.524 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division. Yesterday the metal reached $2.538 in New York, the highest since Oct. 8.

    The metal earlier dropped as much as 1.5 percent in London and 2.1 percent in New York as stockpiles monitored by the LME touched a four-week high. Inventories rose 1.2 percent to 271,725 metric tons, the highest since June 24.

    Copper is headed for a second straight weekly gain as mine disruptions boosted speculation that demand may exceed output. Xstrata Plc reported damage at the Collahuasi mine in Chile, and a union leader said yesterday that production would probably drop. Chile is the world's biggest copper producer.

    Among other metals traded on the LME, aluminum, nickel, zinc, lead and tin all rose.

    (Source: Bloomberg)