Copper down

Reuter

Melbourne

London copper was facing its biggest weekly fall in six weeks on Friday, with weakness set to extend into next week on a stronger dollar and concerns about fresh curbs on China´s property market, a key consumer of the metal.  The dollar reached its highest in more than two months against a basket of currencies as encouraging data on U.S. jobs reinforced the view the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates around year-end.  A stronger dollar erodes the buying power of companies paying for commodities with other currencies.

"With very little in the way of fresh news until (Friday´s) U.S. payroll number, we suspect that metals will be buffeted by the stronger dollar and will likely continue to edge lower," Ed Meir of INTL FC Stone said in a report.  The latest weekly data showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to near a 43-year low, an indication of firmness in the labour market which may support an interest rate increase this year.