LIVE FUTURES REPORT 18/10:Comex copper falls as market waits for direction

Copper for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 0.10 cents or 0.1% to $3.1945 per lb. Trade has narrowed to $3.1730-3.2160 per lb.

The red metal initially surged to a three-year high on Monday before succumbing to a bout of profit-taking. Still, investors are waiting on the sidelines for tomorrow’s release of China’s third-quarter GDP.

There are expectations that the world’s largest base metals consumer grew around 7%, which would be a welcoming sign during the Communist Party Congress meeting period.

“We remain bullish for copper’s fundamentals but prices once again appear to have run ahead of the fundamentals, so the market/price is now likely to have to absorb profit-taking and near-term pricing,” Metal Bulletin analyst William Adams said. “We should get a good feel for how bullish underlying sentiment is by seeing where support comes in.”

Comex gold for December settlement fell $2.60 or 0.2% to $1,283.60 per oz.

Currency moves and data releases

• The US dollar index was recently up 0.08% to 93.56. 
• In other commodities, the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price rose 0.65% to $52.45 per barrel 
• In US data, building permits and housing starts in September both disappointed at 1.22 and 1.13 million, respectively.
• China’s President Xi Jinping gave his opening speech at the 19th Communist Party Congress earlier on October 18, saying China was working toward “socialist modernisation” and that “It is time for [China] to take centre stage in the world and to make a greater contribution to humankind.”
• ECB board members Mario Draghi, Peter Praet and Benoit Coeure are speaking in Frankfurt and the US Federal Reserve’s William Dudley and Robert Kaplan will also deliver speeches later today.