Copper inches higher on solid economic data, tight supplies
By Mai Nguyen
Nov 8 (Reuters) - Copper prices, often used as a gauge of global economic health, edged higher on Monday as strong China exports data, an improving U.S. jobs market and low inventories of the metal lent support.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.03% at $9,520.50 a tonne, as of 0728 GMT, while the most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 0.7% at 70,000 yuan ($10,940.92) a tonne.
Exports growth in China - the world's biggest copper consumer - beat forecasts in October on booming global demand, easing power crunch and supply chain improvement.
Inventories of the metal, widely used in infrastructure projects, fell in ShFE warehouses <CU-STX-SGH> to 37,482 tonnes, their lowest since June 2009. Stockpiles in bonded warehouses <SMM-CUR-BON> dropped to a record low of 206,400 tonnes.
"At present, the spot balance of copper is tight and the long-term uncertainty is high," said Jinrui Futures in a note.
Destocking of the metal is expected, with scrap supply still tight and inventories of refined metal low, the brokerage said, but added that prices were still vulnerable amid increasing worries about consumption.
In addition, strong U.S. employment data and the U.S. Congress passing a long-delayed $1-billion U.S. infrastructure bill last week also aided sentiment.
FUNDAMENTALS
* China's copper imports in October rose for a second month, official data showed, as traders took advantage of a short period of favourable pricing to bring in bonded stocks.
* LME nickel fell 0.5% to $19,335 a tonne, zinc declined 1.1% to $3,193.50 a tonne and lead shed 0.4% to $2,342 a tonne.
* ShFE lead lost 0.8% to 15,505 yuan a tonne, zinc declined 0.5% to 22,920 yuan a tonne while nickel rose 1% to 142,740 yuan a tonne.
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($1 = 6.3980 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Ramakrishnan M.)
