New York, June 29 news: Copper futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) closed down on Thursday, hitting a new low in a month, as worries about the prospect of a U.S. interest rate hike and a stronger dollar also put pressure on copper.
As of the close, copper futures fell by 4.2 cents to 4.55 cents. Among them, the most actively traded September 2023 copper closed at US$3.699 per pound, down 4.35 cents or 1.16% from the previous trading day, a record high The lowest closing price since May 31.
September copper traded in a range of $3.683 to $3.752.
As of Thursday, September copper has fallen for six consecutive trading days, with a cumulative decline of 19.95 cents/lb or 5.12 percentage points. This is also the longest downtrend since November 21, 2022.
The dollar rose further on Thursday as hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell raised concerns that the U.S. central bank will raise interest rates further to curb inflationary pressures. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his expectation that interest rates will continue to rise in the coming months.
Data on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, the biggest drop in 20 months, which could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
The near-term COMEX copper contract is up 1.28 percent so far this month, but down 3.36 percent so far this year. The closing price on Thursday was 1.00% lower than this time last year and 25.39% lower than the all-time high reached in March 2022. Reflecting concerns over continued interest rate hikes by Western central banks, slowing economic growth, China's economic recovery and weaker-than-expected demand for metals.
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 rising 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 August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 540 yuan to close at 67,290 yuan a tonne on Thursday. Bonded copper for October delivery on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) fell 500 yuan to close at 59,620 yuan a tonne.
On Thursday, the trading volume of COMEX copper futures was 86,419 lots, compared with 87,448 lots in the previous trading day; the number of short positions was 190,776 lots, compared with 194,048 lots in the previous trading day.
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