In Commodity News 23/04/2015
London copper was little changed near four-week lows on Wednesday as persistently weak consumer demand from China offset concerns over lower-than-expected mine supply.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading flat at $5,943 a tonne by 1206 GMT, curbing losses from the previous session when it edged to a four-day trough at $5,930 a tonne. A break below $5,874.50 a tonne, the low from that day, would expose prices last seen one month ago.
* The most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.4 percent to 43,200 yuan ($6,967) a tonne.
* China’s capital outflows quickened to their highest level in two years, official data suggested, amid jitters about a protracted slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy and ahead of an expected rise in U.S. interest rates later this year.
* Chinese demand for copper has been weaker than expected so far in 2015, but will pick up in the second-half as government stimulus measures boost orders from factories, a state-backed research firm said.
* BHP Billiton said on Wednesday iron ore output climbed 20 percent to 58.9 million tonnes in the March quarter versus a year ago, benefiting from major expansion work at its Australian mines. Its expects to produce 1.7 million tonnes of copper for the 2015 financial year, 6 pct below prior guidance.
* Days before Beijing cut bank reserve requirements to boost lending to China’s slowing economy, officials in Hebei province met with dozens of banks and steel mills to find financing to revive local industry and tackle chronic environmental problems.
