Copper for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 1.40 cents or 0.5% to $3.1340 per lb. The contract is trading at the highest point since September 8.
Chinese market participants’ growing optimism ahead of the upcoming 13th Five-Year Plan meeting at the 19th Party Congress in Beijing next week is also playing a major part in the rally.
“Copper has rallied strongly across the past week, buoyed by strong arbitrage-related demand as Chinese players returned from Golden Week in a positive mood,” Metal Bulletin analyst James Moore said.
“We maintain a bullish view for copper’s fundamentals because improving demand and supply disruptions are set to tighten the supply/demand balance,” Moore continued.
The complex was also supported by a weaker dollar, which fell after less-hawkish-than-expected comments came from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes on Wednesday.
In the precious metals space, Comex gold for December delivery rose $6.70 or 0.5% to $1,303.10 per oz.
Currency moves and data release
- The dollar index was most recently down 0.28% to 92.82.
- In other commodities, the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price was up 1.36% to $51.29 per barrel.
- In US data, retail sales in September grew 1.6% in September, slightly below the consensus of 1.7%. Core retail sales over the same period stood at 1.0%. CPI and Core CPI both disappointed at 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively.
- In addition, FOMC members Robert Kaplan and Charles Evans are speaking later today.