New York, July 28 news: Copper futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) rose on Friday, mainly due to U.S. data showing slowing inflation and a weaker dollar. Copper is up nearly 3% for the week.
As of the close, copper futures rose by 4.8 cents to 5.15 cents. Among them, the most actively traded September 2023 copper closed at US$3.9265/lb, up 5.1 cents or 1.32% from the previous trading day.
September copper traded in a range of $3.844 to $3.933.
Copper rose 2.84% for the week, its third gain in four weeks. For comparison, copper fell 2.92% last week.
The dollar fell 0.14% on Friday, with a weaker greenback making dollar-priced commodities more attractive to buyers holding other currencies.
Copper futures on COMEX (near-term contract) are up 4.70% so far this month and 2.93% so far this year, closing Friday 9.29% higher than this time last year. In contrast, COMEX copper futures fell by 14.58% in 2022, mainly because the outlook for global economic growth is worrying. High inflation prompted European and American central banks to actively raise interest rates to curb inflation, which exacerbated the risk of economic recession. In the medium to long term, however, the green transition and electrification of the global economy could help boost additional demand for the metal, which is widely used in the power and construction industries.
From the perspective of the external market, the September 2023 copper futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 70 yuan to 68,850 yuan/ton on Friday (July 28), but it was up 340 yuan or 0.50% from a week ago. October bonded copper futures on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) fell 100 yuan to 61,240 yuan a tonne, but were up 320 yuan, or 0.53%, from a week ago.
In registered warehouses of the Shanghai Futures Exchange, copper inventories stood at 61,290 tons on Friday (July 28), down 16,608 tons from 77,898 tons a week earlier. 75.7% lower.
On Friday, the trading volume of COMEX copper futures was 70,179 lots, compared with 87,453 lots in the previous trading day; the number of open positions was 235,778 lots, compared with 234,513 lots in the previous trading day.