Copper, base metals prices rise amid hope for stronger China demand; energy, grains mixed

Base metals rise on hope of growing China demand

Copper and other metals rose Monday amid speculation that demand from China could heat up again.

Investors also bought gold and the U.S. dollar, filling out their portfolios after a couple of rocky weeks in commodities markets.

China is a voracious consumer of commodities, including industrial metals used in manufacturing such as copper, platinum and palladium. Big gains in Chinese stocks Monday had commodities traders speculating that industrial activity could be picking up there.

“As goes the Chinese stock market, so goes commodities,” said Richard Feltes, director of commodity research for MF Global in Chicago.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.5 percent Monday, the largest single day rise since Oct. 9. The Shenzhen Composite Index for China’s smaller second exchange rose 4.3 percent.

Copper for July delivery led the rally in industrial metals. It settled up 8.65 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $3.1475 a pound but was still below the May 3 price of $3.2935 a pound.

June palladium rose $14.10, or 3.2 percent, to settle at $453.55 an ounce and July platinum added $33.30, or 2.2 percent, at $1,534.50 an ounce.

“So long as we hear news coming out of Asia in terms of relatively bullish production figures, both on the automotive side as well as just generally, I think that’s good for the metals,” said Fred Jheon, ETF Securities managing director of U.S. product development.

In other metals, gold for June delivery rose $17.90 to $1,194 an ounce, boosted partly by investors seeking relatively safe places to park money. July silver rose 34.9 cents to $18 an ounce.

Prices were mixed for grains and other agricultural products.

In July contracts, wheat fell 4.5 cents to settle at $4.675 a bushel; corn added 2 cents to $3.71 a bushel and soybeans lost 0.5 cent to settle at $9.405 a bushel.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark crude oil for July delivery rose 17 cents to settle at $70.21. The price has fallen a little more than 19 percent since hitting an 18-month high of $87.15 per barrel three weeks ago.

In other Nymex trading in June contracts, heating oil rose 0.26 cent to $1.8993 a gallon; gasoline added 0.96 cent to settle at $1.9708 a gallon.

Natural gas fell 1.8 cents to settle at $4.017 per 1,000 cubic feet.