Copper Rises on Improving China DemandBy Yi Tian - Oct 24, 2011...

Copper Rises on Improving China Demand

By Yi Tian - Oct 24, 2011 10:29 PM GMT+0800

Copper rose, heading for the biggest two-day rally since March 2009, as European governments moved closer to containing the region’s debt crisis and manufacturing probably expanded in China, the world’s top metal consumer.

European leaders outlined plans to aid banks and ruled out borrowing unlimited amounts from the European Central Bank to boost a rescue fund. Chinese manufacturing may expand in October, ending the longest contraction since 2009, according to a preliminary purchasing managers’ index.

“Most markets seem to be relieved by the progress made over the weekend by European leaders,” Edward Meir, a senior commodity analyst at MF Global Holdings Ltd. in Darien, Connecticut, said in a report. Industrial metals are “also teeing off somewhat disproportionately” on Chinese manufacturing, he said.

Copper futures for December delivery rose 5.3 percent to $3.3945 a pound at 10:26 a.m. on the Comex in New York. A close at that price would bring the two-day gain to 11 percent, the most since March 4, 2009.

Imports of refined copper by China in September rose 17 percent to 275,499 metric tons from August, customs figures showed today. Shipments were up 14 percent from a year earlier.

On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose 5 percent to $7,505 a ton ($3.40 a pound).

Aluminum rose 3.7 percent to $2,204 a ton in London, heading for the biggest gain in a year.

Lead, tin, nickel and zinc also advanced.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-24/base-metals-in-london-extend-biggest-rally-in-two-years-on-european-plan.html