SHANGHAI (Dow Jones) - Copper prices in Shanghai Futures Exchange floor on Monday as new measures were established in Beijing and set up military strikes in Libya, led by the U.S. and other coalition forces weighed on investor confidence.
The benchmark copper contract settled 0.3% June 1 less than CNY71, 540 per metric ton.
The red metal can stay within its recent range in the short term as national monetary tightening may further dent demand for riskier assets such as metals, while rising oil prices also push investors to flee asset higher risk if the conflict intensifies in Libya.
"The environment for copper looks pretty complicated these days because not only has internal problems, such as monetary tightening, but also international issues in Japan and Libya, which would change the dynamics, at least in the short term "said Fang Junfeng, an analyst at Shanghai Futures CIFCO.
Shanghai copper fell mostly in negative territory in terms of geopolitical instability and further monetary tightening by Beijing to investors to take profits.
But analysts said the improved operating rates in the manufacturers of copper, an indicator of demand for the metal revival, should maintain support to the downside.
"After all, is the season of high consumption, intermediate consumption has been picking up lately," said Fang, whop tip of close support for copper at CNY68, 000/ton in table based signals.
Investors did not react much to February's refined copper imports data, which came within market expectations after a week of Lunar New Year holiday and tightly closed arbitrage opportunity between Shanghai and London.
imports of refined copper in China in February decreased by 28% over the previous year to 158,185 metric tons, down 36% since January, the General Administration of Customs said on Monday.
In January-February, the biggest consumer of copper imported 403,802 tonnes of refined copper, 3.3% over the previous year.
Copper traded at the trade Changjiang Nonferrous Metals Market, an important point metals market in Shanghai, was quoted at CNY71, 250-CNY71, 350/ton, constant CNY71, 250-CNY71, 300/ton Friday.
LME copper for three months ended halt on Friday afternoon down $ 54 at $ 9,510 per tonne.
Quoted 0.2% higher at $ 9,532 per ton around 0700 GMT, when the SHFE closed.
Shanghai aluminum established a 0.2% higher, while zinc settled 0.9% lower.
Monday's settlement prices in yuan per ton and the final prices to curb the LME on Friday in dollars per ton:
Metal SHFE LME
Copper Jun 71,540 Down 210 3Mo 9,510 Down 54
Aluminum Jun 16,675 Up 35 3Mo 2,560 Up 37
Zinc Jun 18,070 Down 165 3Mo 2,325 Down 8
(Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110321-702447.html)
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