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

To: TheSlowLane who wrote (1666)	3/28/2007 10:29:50 AM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2131

Copper Prices Rise as Global Inventories Continue to Dwindle 2007-03-28 09:11 (New York) By Halia Pavliva March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Copper prices rose in New York as global inventories of the metal headed for the biggest monthly drop since June. Stockpiles monitored by the London Metal Exchange fell 0.7 percent today to 179,225 metric tons, the lowest since Dec. 28. Supplies have declined 14 percent this month, and prices have climbed 12 percent. Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty., the Australian affiliate of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Deutsche Bank AG raised price estimates on growing demand from China. ``The rate of the rebound in China's apparent consumption of copper has exceeded our expectations, and has contributed to a steeper recovery in the copper price than we had anticipated,'' Goldman said. Copper futures for May delivery rose 1 cent, or 0.3 percent, to $3.0675 a pound at 9:04 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Before today, prices had climbed 24 percent from a year ago. China's copper imports surged in February from a year earlier. Goldman raised its 2007 price estimate to $3.14 a pound from $3.07 and said China's use may jump 12 percent this year, up from an estimate of 8 percent. Copper also got a boost from surging energy and gold prices, analysts said. Some investors buy metals as a hedge against inflation. Crude-oil prices climbed for the seventh session in a row, and gasoline this week closed above $2 a gallon for the first time since August. ``Metals should also get some spillover support from energy prices, which are sharply higher,'' Edward Meir, a commodity analyst at Man Financial Inc. in New York, said in a report. Copper gained even as orders for U.S.-made durable goods climbed less than forecast in February, limited by lower demand for metals, machinery and appliances. Orders excluding transportation dropped unexpectedly. --With reporting by Tan Hwee Ann in Melbourne and Joe Richter in Washington. Editor: McKiernan