HANOI- Copper prices surged to record high levels on Monday as China’s property support measures and better-than-expected industrial data added to momentum buying that has been fueling base metals prices for the past month.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 3.4 percent to $11,034.50 per metric ton, having surged as much as 4.1 percent earlier in the session to a historic high of $11,104.50.
The most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 5.8 percent to 88,130 yuan ($12,189.15) a ton. Earlier in the session, it was up 6.8 percent to a record high of 88,940 yuan a ton.
China on Friday announced “historic” steps to stabilize its crisis-hit property sector, while China’s industrial output grew above expectations at 6.7 percent year-on-year in April, helped by improving external demand.
A trader said the metal price rally on Monday was exacerbated by systematic traders who simply chased the higher prices. LME copper has surged 29 percent so far this year and SHFE copper jumped 26 percent in the same period.
The futures prices, however, do not reflect an improvement in demand in the physical copper market. The premium to import copper into China’s Yangshan area was at zero on Friday, compared with $60 in March, reflecting weak import demand.
