Copper for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 7.50 cents or 2.4% to $3.0685 per lb. Earlier, the contract touched $3.0635, the lowest since August 28.
“Even though we remain fundamentally bullish towards copper, the rally seen over the summer trading lull may have run too far ahead of itself,” Metal Bulletin analyst Andy Farida said. “The lack of pullback also increased the possibility of an overdue correction. As such, a move to the downside may have just started but we still expect dips to remain well supported in the short term.”
On the data side, China’s unwrought copper and copper-fabricated product imports were unchanged in August on a monthly basis, while imports for the first eight months logged a 12% decline.
Since the second half of August, copper has moved swiftly towards the highest point since September 2014 on fund-buying and strong economic data from China and the USA. But prices seem to have reached a short-term top with technical selling now erasing some of those gains.
In supply-side news, copper miners in Chile are increasingly optimistic about industry prospects for the mid-to-long term but have said that caution, especially towards costs and investments, is still needed.
In the precious metals space, Comex gold for December settlement inched up $2.20 or 0.2% to $1,352.10 per oz.
Currency moves and data releases
- The dollar index declined 0.23% to 91.31.
- In other commodities, the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price was down $0.16 to $48.93 per barrel.