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Print[Ferro-Alloys.com] ondon copper rallied to a one-month high on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled that further stimulus might be on the agenda, and after shrinking factory growth numbers out of top metals consumer also raised prospects for further easing there.
Minutes from the U.S. central bank's latest meeting suggested the Fed was likely to deliver another round of monetary stimulus fairly soon unless the economy improved considerably. The news weighed on the dollar and helped send copper prices to one-month highs for a third straight day.
Gains were initially tempered after data from China showed factory activity in August shrank at the fastest pace in nine months as new export orders slumped and inventories rose, a signal that a persistent slowdown in economic growth has extended deeper into the third quarter.
But the traders said the poor figures ultimately added fuel to expectations for further easing by the world's second-biggest economy.
"Certainly the FOMC minutes were taken positively by the market on signs that the Fed meeting has tipped the scales further in favor of stimulus," said Nick Trevethan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ in Singapore.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at USD7,681 per tonne at 0704 GMT, up 1 percent and having earlier hit USD7,687.50, which was the highest since July 20. Prices edged out of negative territory on Thursday and are now close to levels seen at the start of the year.
The most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced 1.17 percent to close at RMB55,980 (USD8,800) per tonne.
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