COMEX August 31 Copper Roundup

New York, August 31 news: Copper futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) fell on Thursday as the dollar strengthened.

As of the close, copper futures fell by 1.25 cents to 2.2 cents. Among them, the most actively traded December 2023 copper closed at $3.822 per pound, down 2.2 cents or 0.57% from the previous trading day.

December copper traded in a range of $3.7985 to $3.8465.

A firmer U.S. dollar on Thursday weighed on dollar-priced copper. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index was at 103.605 points, up 0.5% from Wednesday. The dollar index has risen about 2 percent this month, reflecting concerns that the Fed may need to keep interest rates high for longer to stem rising inflation.

Weak Chinese factory data also weighed on copper prices. Official factory surveys showed China's manufacturing activity remained in contraction in August. The National Bureau of Statistics said China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 49.7 from 49.3 in July, continuing to be below the 50 threshold for growth and contraction.

The U.S. government on Wednesday lowered its second-quarter gross domestic product growth rate to 2.1%, down from the 2.4% reported last month. Other data showed that growth in private employment slowed markedly in August.

Copper on COMEX is down 0.87% so far this year. Thursday's closing price was 10.48% higher than a year earlier, but still 23.46% below its all-time high on March 9, 2022. In contrast, COMEX copper futures fell by 14.58% in 2022, reflecting the worrying outlook for global economic growth. High inflation has prompted central banks in Europe and the United States to actively raise interest rates to curb inflation, while higher borrowing costs have exacerbated the risk of economic recession. In the medium to long term, the green transition of the global economy and electrification are helping to boost additional demand for the metal, which is widely used in the power and construction industries, while copper mine production has been disrupted.

The most actively traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 130 yuan at 69,480 yuan a ton on Thursday. Bonded copper for November delivery on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) rose 110 yuan to close at 61,770 yuan a tonne.

On Thursday, the trading volume of COMEX copper futures was 55,834 lots, compared with 72,375 lots in the previous trading day; the number of open positions was 190,295 lots, compared with 190,422 lots in the previous trading day.