Copper price rises as China reports no new covid-19 cases

Copper prices rose on Monday as the risk-on sentiment spilled over from the equities market, reinforced by optimism over economic recovery after top consumer China reported no new local covid-19 cases for the first time since July.

Asian shares bounced as a wave of bargain hunting swept beaten-down markets.

Surging novel coronavirus cases due to the highly transmissible Delta variant, slowing China growth and fear of US policy tightening this year have weighed on base metals, with copper hitting its lowest in more than six months last week.

Copper for delivery in September rose 2.6% from Friday’s settlement price, at $4.2465 per pound (9,342 per tonne) on the Comex market in New York.

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“Trading volumes are very thin across the board suggesting that it is pretty much algorithms at play,” director Malcolm Freeman at broker Kingdom Futures said in a note.

According to the International Copper Study Group, the global world refined copper market showed a 2,000 tonne surplus in May, compared with 86,000 tonne deficit in April.

(With files from Reuters)