Copper surges

Reuters

Sydney

London copper prices found modest support on Friday after a big fall overnight amid fresh doubts over Chinese demand and some upward movement in the U.S. dollar, but were still on track for a weekly decline of around 2 percent. Traders said worries persist about consumption levels in China after the country´s housing minister on Thursday suggested moves were afoot to stabilise the property market. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.8 percent at $5,907 a tonne by 0700 GMT after falling 3 percent in the previous session.

"Copper is below $6,000 (a tonne) again, but the drop may be seen as a little overdone, explaining the uptick today," said a commodities trader in Sydney who did not want to be named. "But I don´t see all the losses being erased." Strike action at the Escondida copper mine in Chile, accounting for about 6 percent of world supply, was offering support, although the strike "at least in the short term" was largely factored into the market, the trader added.