Copper prices are stable while low inventories offset growth fears

Copper was flat on Friday as concerns about the impact on global growth from higher prices were offset by low inventories in trader deposits, pointing to strong demand.

At 1053 GMT, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.2% at $ 9,248 a tonne, but the metal, considered an indicator of global economic health, was still on track for a weekly gain. .

The market’s focus is on US nonfarm payrolls released later in the day.

“The only cloud hanging over copper is a worsening macro outlook, but the supply outlook is very tight and that keeps the price of copper from falling”, Dijo Gianclaudio Torlizzi, partner of the consultant T-Commodity.

Stocks in traders warehouses rose but remained low. Weekly copper inventory data for warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed an increase for the first time in eight weeks, from 15% to 50,062 tonnes, but still hovering around 2009 lows.

At LME-registered warehouses, guaranteed stocks rose 3.7% to 85,875 t, close to their lowest level since May.

Another concern for the copper market is the possible contagion of the financial problems of the Chinese real estate developer Evergrande. China’s real estate sector is a major consumer of copper.