LIVE FUTURES REPORT 07/02: Comex copper price gains for third consecutive session but gold dips

The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 1.05 cents to $2.8470 per lb.

Market activity remains stunted with Chinese participants sidelined due to the Lunar New Year. Once they return on Monday February 11, global investors will be eyeing Chinese and US trade talks and any recent developments.

“Despite the absence of meaningful tightness in the refined copper market at this juncture – resulting from seasonally low demand – we expect the copper price to continue to move higher on positive macro sentiment,” Fastmarkets MB analyst Boris Mikanikrezai said.

“While investors were excessively bearish at the end of last year due to growing recession fears (triggering a significant sell-off across risk assets), copper has enjoyed a short-covering rally since the start of the year. This is attributable to the fact that investors have corrected their excessive positioning,” he added.

In precious metals, the Comex price of gold for April dipped $2.60 or 0.2% to $1,311.80 per oz. Trade has ranged from $1,306.40 to $1,315.80.

Currency moves and data releases 

• The dollar index was up by 0.04% to 96.43. 
• In other commodities, the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price was down by 0.46% at $53.22 per barrel. 
• Meanwhile in US data, weekly unemployment claims came in at 234,000, above the estimate of 220,000. Later, consumer credit will be released.