COMEX Copper Roundup for October 12

New York, October 12: Copper futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) fell for the third consecutive day on Thursday.

As of the close, copper futures fell by 0.65 cents to 2.1 cents, with the most actively traded December 2023 copper futures closing at $3.591/lb, down 2.1 cents or 0.58% from the previous trading day.

December copper futures traded in a trading range of $3.5765 to $3.6485.

So far this week, the benchmark copper contract has fallen 1.01 percentage points.

Data released by the United States on Thursday showed that the consumer price index rose 0.4% in September, higher than the 0.3% increase expected by economists. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile food and energy components, rose 0.3%, in line with expectations. In the 12 months to the end of September, core CPI rose 4.1%, down from a year-on-year increase of 4.3% in August. After the release of inflation data, people expect the probability of the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year to increase. This helped lift the dollar higher.

The U.S. dollar exchange rate index closed at 106.367 points on Thursday, up 0.76% from Wednesday. A stronger dollar means copper is more expensive for buyers holding other currencies, curbing demand and prices.

COMEX copper futures (near-term contract) have fallen 3.54% so far this month and 5.56% so far this year. Thursday’s closing price is still 3.65% higher than the same period last year, but lower than the historical peak of $4.929 hit on March 4, 2022 27.08%. For comparison, COMEX copper futures fell 14.58% in 2022, reflecting concerns about the global economic growth outlook. High inflation has prompted European and American central banks to actively raise interest rates to curb inflation, while rising borrowing costs have intensified the risk of economic recession. In the medium to long term, the green transition of the global economy and the electrification of the global economy could help boost additional demand for this widely used metal in the power and construction industries, while copper mine production has been disrupted.

On Thursday, the most actively traded November copper futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 310 yuan at 66,700 yuan per ton. Shanghai International Energy Trading Center (INE) November bonded copper rose 350 yuan to close at 58,980 yuan per ton.

On Thursday, the trading volume of COMEX copper futures was 79,893 lots, compared with 64,567 lots on the previous trading day; the short volume was 203,279 lots, compared with 201,214 lots on the previous trading day.