Copper rises as China rolls out support for stock market
Updates with official prices
By Polina Devitt
LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) -Copper prices rose on Friday, supported by new measures to boost liquidity in the Chinese stock market and expectations that more stimulus tools were coming from the top metals consumer after it released mixed economic data.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 rose 0.9% to $9,603 per metric ton in official open-outcry trading. The contract touched the lowest since Sept. 23 on Thursday and is heading for a third consecutive week of decline.
China's economy grew at the slowest pace since early 2023 in the third quarter and its property sector continued to show sharp weakness, even though consumption and industrial output figures for September beat forecasts.
At the same time, China's central bank kicked off two funding schemes on Friday that will initially pump as much as 800 billion yuan ($112 billion) into the stock market and urged swift adoption of financial policies to support capital markets, boosting investor sentiment.
"People are a bit puzzled with what is going with China's economy because there are certain parts of it which are doing well such as the electronic sector and other parts which are doing badly," said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.
The property and the construction markets are still weak, adding pressure on copper, used in power and construction, he said.
"So, China is basically releasing mini bazookas to stop things from getting worse, and it is quite difficult to trade this," Smith said.
Industrial metals will struggle to see a long-term move higher until the market sees signs of a sustainable recovery and economic growth in China, said Ewa Manthey, a commodities analyst at ING.
LME aluminium CMAL3 rose 1.3% to $2,587 a ton in official activity, tin CMSN3 climbed 1.5% to $31,695, zinc CMZN3 edged up 1.0% to $3,083, lead CMPB3 increased 0.6% to $2,081, while nickel CMNI3 was steady at $17,000.
Reporting by Polina Devitt in London; additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by David Evans
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