copper intraday

Copper futures finished slightly softer
26 June 2008 10:00:24

Copper futures finished slightly softer Wednesday largely in reaction to weakness in other commodities and perhaps due to a small technical pullback.

The most-active September copper contract fell 1.35 cents to settle at $3.7730 per pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Around the time the copper pit closed, August crude oil was down $4.08 to $132.92 a barrel. After starting the day softer, the dollar index was up 0.54 point to 73.295. August gold was down $10.30 to $881.30 an ounce.

Other metals and commodities have come off, the silver and gold are both down, and the energy complex is down as well. Copper is just pulling back in sympathy with that.

The copper market was modestly higher early in the day, with some traders citing tightness as indicated by spreads between cash and three-month prices on the London Metal Exchange. But overall, activity was described as muted ahead of the outcome of a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Around mid-morning, however, crude oil turned south after the first weekly build was reported in U.S. inventories since early May. Inventories rose by 800,000 barrels when the consensus forecast had been for a 900,000 decline. As oil prices fell, copper and other metals followed.

Gross commented that the U.S. economic data wasn't particularly helpful for copper even though it was slightly above forecasts. May durable-goods orders were unchanged when the consensus forecast had been for a 0.5% decline, and they were 0.9% lower when excluding transportation orders. Also, May new-home sales fell 2.5% to an annual rate of 512,000, when a 3% loss was forecast.

Copper does have some supportive features, including the recent technical posture plus historically low inventories in both Comex and LME warehouses. And the dollar - while it rebounded from its lows Wednesday - overall remains soft.

Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses fell 525 metric tons Wednesday, leaving them at 122,625. The most recent Comex inventory data, released late Tuesday afternoon, were steady at 11,040 short tons.

MCX Copper June - Technical Outlook:

The daily stochastics have crossed over down which is a bearish indication. The prices closed below short term and medium term EMA, which supports bears. MACD is heading downwards in positive region, showing decrease in bullish momentum.

Technical are neutral to bearish signalling sideways to lower prices in the near term. Initial support for the market is around 352.32 levels. If broken can see further fall to 348.83 and 345.17, If market holds above 355.98 further rally can be seen towards 359.47 and 363.13

Recommendations-MCX Copper June: Sell at 357.50-358 Target 354 and 352 SL 359.70

MCXARUN
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