Copper price falls on China data
Copper ended lower on Monday, after a report showed China's imports of copper fell last month. This snapped a five-day rally. Chinese Copper imports fell for a third straight month in June.
Despite this, most commodity imports are still trending at healthier levels.
China's trade surplus in June jumped on surprising strength in exports, but copper imports fell by 17.3 percent to 328,231 tonnes.
Copper for September delivery fell 4.45 cents to end at $3.0090 per lb on the COMEX metals division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, near the bottom of its $2.9850 to $3.0650 session range. On the London Metal Exchange, benchmark copper for three-month delivery shed $139 to close at $6,630 a tonne.
Analysts are upbeat despite the monthly data projecting with continued global and Chinese economic growth, imports of copper and iron ore should improve later in the year. This would help drive copper prices higher later this year.
Beijing is scheduled to release a slew of economic data for June later this week, including economic growth, inflation and industrial output, expected to shed light on the health of the world's third-largest economy.
Also assisting was a decline in copper stocks at LME-registered warehouses since February, providing investors with some optimism for the demand outlook. LME's copper stocks last fell 1,650 tonnes to 435,250 tonnes, to their lowest since late November last year.
Aluminium's prospects received a boost with earnings upbeat. The aluminum maker beat analysts' expectations, and it also said it was raising its forecast for consumption of the metal this year. The company's stock rose nearly 3 percent in after-hours trading.
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