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

To: Mac who wrote (950)	10/14/2004 10:26:09 AM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2131

Copper Steady in London on Investor Optimism Over Demand By Stuart Wallace Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Copper was little changed in London, halting a three-day decline, on investors' optimism that demand from China and other buyers of the metal is still rising. China will use about 10 percent more copper this year than in 2003, BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, said yesterday. That will further erode stockpiles that have dropped 80 percent this year. Prices fell 11 percent yesterday, gathering pace as speculators sold. ``Metal prices had run up sharply since the beginning of 2004 and more recently in the past few months,'' said S. Naganath, chief investment officer at DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers Ltd. in Mumbai. ``Some correction was inevitable but the underlying demand still looks good.'' Copper for delivery in three months was down $5, or 0.2 percent, at $2,755 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange at 9:54 a.m. Yesterday's plunge was the biggest since 1988. This week's drop had ended a five-week rally that had pushed copper prices up 16 percent. Hedge funds account for about half of trading on the LME, according to Barclays Capital in London. ``Metals prices had been forced to unrealistically high levels by short covering of speculative positions and a recent bout of fund buying amid a background of strong global demand,'' John Meyer, an analyst at Numis Securities in London, wrote in an e-mailed note. --With reporting by Ravil Shirodkar. Editor: A. Brown