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Gold/Mining/Energy : Copper - analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen O who wrote (664)	2/23/2004 2:20:01 PM
From: Stephen O	Respond to of 2131

Copper Futures Rise; China's Economic Growth Spurs More Demand By Claudia Carpenter Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Copper futures in New York rose as faster economic growth in China, the world's biggest copper consumer, spurs more demand for cars and homes. China's 19 percent industrial production growth in January has helped extend a rally that pushed copper prices to an eight- year high last week. Global demand will outpace production by as much as 850,000 metric tons this year, France's Societe Generale SA said in a report Friday. Industrial metals such as copper are ``tied to the growth of Asia and the new middle class,'' said Donald Coxe, chief investment strategist at Bank of Montreal's Chicago-based Harris Investment Management, which oversees $18 billion. ``What we're going to see in the next 15 years is more than three quarters of a billion people getting the ingredients of the middle class, which is indoor plumbing, electrified homes and cars.'' Copper for March delivery rose 0.5 cent to $1.3135 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have risen 67 percent in the past year. The dollar's drop against the euro contributed to the rise in copper today, said Tony Nappi, a trader at Triland USA in New York. The U.S. currency has fallen 14 percent against the euro in the past year, making the dollar-priced metal cheaper for buyers in Europe. China's industrial production grew 19 percent in January from a year earlier after an 18 percent gain in December, a report earlier this month from China's statistics bureau showed. The 19 percent increase was the fastest since records began in 1995. On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell $10 to $2,864 a metric ton ($1.299 a pound). --With reporting by Carol Massar in New York.