Copper Rises for Third Day on Concern Output May Be Disrupted
2005-06-27 08:08 (New York)
By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Copper futures rose for a third day in
London amid traders' concern over supply following strike threats
at copper producers such as Arizona-based Asarco Inc., and
Vancouver-based Placer Dome Inc.'s mine in Chile.
Workers at the Zaldiver copper mine rejected a new two-year
contract June 23, asking for a higher pay increase than offered,
Reuters reported. Under Chilean law, the earliest the miners may
strike is June 29. Unionized workers at Asarco in Texas and
Arizona said they were preparing for a strike earlier this month.
``The copper market is still vulnerable to supply
disruptions,'' Angus MacMillan, an analyst at Bache Financial Ltd.
in London, said today by phone. ``The market is genuinely tight.''
Copper for delivery in three months rose $4, or 0.1 percent,
to $3,372 a metric ton as of 12:49 p.m. in London. The contract
earlier rose as much as 0.6 percent to $3,388 a ton. It reached a
record $3,435 a ton reached on June 20.
Copper stockpiles monitored by the LME and the Shanghai
Futures Exchange continued to drop. On the LME, the stockpiles
fell 825 tons, or 2.6 percent, to 31,275 tons, the exchange said
today. Stockpiles remained at the lowest in 30 years. In China,
the exchange's stockpile fell 1.4 percent to 29,762 tons in the
week ended June 23, the Shanghai exchange said on June 24.
Zaldiver is scheduled to produce about 151,000 tons of copper
this year, Reuters said. Asarco plans to produce 212,000 tons this
year, the company's President Daniel Pellechea said on June 20.
Fund Bets
Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators increased
their net long positions, or bets prices will rise, in New York
copper futures by 1,971 contracts, or 9 percent, to 22,783
contracts as of the week ended June 21, the U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission said on June 24. The increase was the fifth
straight week of gains after funds' net long positions fell to an
11-month low in May.
Aluminum for delivery in three months dropped amid rising
inventories. Global aluminum inventories rose 7.5 percent to a
four-year high in May, led by increases in Asia and Latin America,
according to the data released today by the International Aluminum
Institute.
Inventories increased to 1.87 million metric tons, from 1.74
million tons in April, the London-based institute said today on
its Web site. The increase brought inventories to their highest
since Feb. 2001, when they also totaled 1.87 million tons.
Aluminum for delivery in three months fell $10, or 0.6
percent, to $1,746 a ton.
Other metals for delivery in three months on the LME fell.
Nickel lost $150, or 1 percent, to $14,400 and lead declined $2,
or 0.2 percent, to $941. Tin shed $50, or 0.5 percent, to $7,500
while zinc lost $13, or 1 percent, to $1,264.
--Editors: A. Brown |
