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Gold/Mining/Energy : first quantum minerals FM on TSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen O who wrote (318)	12/6/2000 8:26:17 PM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 385

Copper Rises on Expectations Lower Rates Will Spur Building New York, Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose for a fourth session on speculation that demand will pick up as wire and pipe manufacturers prepare for the spring building season. Expectations of lower interest rates in the months ahead are fueling hopes that the construction industry, the biggest user of copper products, will step up purchases. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan yesterday suggested the Fed may reduce rates if the economy continues to slow. ``Greenspan's comments are a big plus for the copper market,'' said Vincent Rego, chairman and chief executive of McKinney, Texas-based Encore Wire Corp., which uses about 25 million pounds of copper a month. ``There's nothing wrong with demand already.'' Copper for March delivery rose 0.85 cent, or 1 percent, to 87.75 cents a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the contract's highest closing price since Oct. 17. Prices are up 8 percent from a four-month intraday low of 81.3 on Nov. 17. In London, copper for delivery in three months rose $4 to $1,878 a metric ton (85.18 cents a pound) on the London Metal Exchange, the highest since Oct. 24. Sales of new U.S. homes this year are already on track for the second-best year on record, a report from the Commerce Department showed Monday. The average single-family home contains 400 pounds of copper, according to the Copper Development Association. Greenspan said the Fed's six interest rate increases in the past year and a half helped slow the pace of economic expansion ``appreciably.'' Copper prices are down 7 percent from a three- year high reached in September on expectations that slower growth in the U.S. economy would reduce demand for copper. Lower interest rates may send copper prices as high as $1 a pound next year, Rego said. Global demand for refined copper is forecast to reach 15.07 million metric tons this year, exceeding world production of 14.76 million tons, according to the Lisbon-based International Copper Study Group, sponsored by 24 nations and the European Union. --Claudia Carpenter in the New York newsroom (212) 318-2346 or at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net /wb My comment The difference between demand and production according to this is 310,000 tonnes. This is more than Zambia produces in total. Copper prices are GOING UP.