NEW YORK, April 26: Copper futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) were mixed on Wednesday, with the benchmark contract losing its sixth straight day.
As of the close, copper futures ranged from a rise of 0.55 cents to a fall of 0.65 cents. Among them, the most actively traded copper futures for July 2023 closed at $3.8615 per pound, down 0.35 cents or 0.09% from the previous trading day.
July copper traded in a range of $3.854 to $3.9095.
In the 6 trading days as of Wednesday, copper futures for July fell 2.35 cents or 5.74 percentage points.
The Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank will hold policy meetings next week, and the market expects that all three central banks are expected to raise interest rates. The Fed meets on May 2-3. Higher interest rates will slow economic growth and weaken demand for commodities.
COMEX copper (near-term contract) has fallen 6.20% so far this month and is still up 1.17% so far this year, mainly because market participants earlier this year expected an improved outlook for China's economic growth and metal demand. Demand for copper, a metal widely used in power, construction and transportation, is expected to pick up as manufacturing activity in China recovers.
Wednesday's closing price is still 13.57% lower than the same period last year, and 21.89% lower than the historical peak in March 2022.
Copper futures on COMEX fell by 14.58% in 2022, as the outlook for global economic growth is worrying, and high inflation has prompted central banks in Europe and the United States to actively raise interest rates to curb inflation, which has 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 is at risk of disruption.
The most actively traded June 2023 copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 740 yuan at 67,100 yuan a tonne on Wednesday. Bonded copper futures for June 2023 on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) fell 730 yuan to 59,390 yuan a tonne.
On Wednesday, the trading volume of COMEX copper futures was 119,928 lots, compared with 174,458 lots in the previous trading day; the volume of short positions was 202,422 lots, compared with 203,343 lots in the previous trading day.
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