Copper Prices Rise on Speculation Chinese Demand Will Increase
2005-03-16 09:13 (New York)
By Choy Leng Yeong
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Copper prices in New York rose to
their highest in more than a week after China, the world's biggest
metals user, said spending on factories, roads and other
infrastructure increased in the first two months of 2005.
Fixed-asset investment in urban areas increased 25 percent
from a year earlier to 422 billion yuan ($51 billion), the
National Bureau of Statistics said in Beijing today, surpassing
China's annual growth target of 16 percent. Copper yesterday
gained the most in three weeks after China said industrial
production rose 17 percent in January and February, exceeding the
median analyst forecast of 15 percent in a Bloomberg survey.
``We saw some good buying coming out of China overnight,''
said Edward Meir, an analyst at Man Financial Ltd., a metals
trading company in Darien, Connecticut. Apart from yesterday's
industrial production, ``the fixed assets investments, which is
government expenditure on infrastructure, also came out much
higher than expected.''
Copper futures for May delivery rose 1.85 cents, or 1.2
percent, to $1.509 a pound at 8:56 a.m. on the Comex division of
the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices earlier reached $1.514,
the highest since the 16-year high of $1.521 on March 8. A futures
contract is an obligation to buy or sell a commodity at a set
price by a specific date.
--Editor: Enoch |
