copper leads metals gains

Copper Leads Metals Gains in London, Tracking Gold, Oil Rally

By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose in London, leading gains in metals traded on the London Metal Exchange, as gold rebounded from this year's low and oil recovered from the weakest level in five months, boosted by a weaker dollar.

The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities lost 0.8 percent yesterday as the dollar headed for a third consecutive weekly increase against the euro, making raw materials more expensive in other monies. The single currency regained some ground today. Copper has lost 17 percent since the end of June also because of concerns that a global economic slowdown may trim demand.

``The dollar has had an amazing run and clearly needed a pullback,'' Randy North, a trader at RBC Capital Markets in London, said by phone. ``It's getting people back in the bull mode for commodities.''

Copper for delivery in three months advanced $150.25, or 2.2 percent, to $7,080.25 a ton as of 9:57 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange, heading for a 2.6 percent weekly gain. The contract fell 8.1 percent last week.

This week's 29 percent drop in copper stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange added to concern that supply will struggle to match demand after disruptions at mines. Production at Escondida, the world's largest mine, will decline between 10 percent and 15 percent for the next two years, according to BHP Billiton Ltd, which owns the mine.

Stockpiles Decline

Copper stockpiles tracked by the Shanghai exchange slid to 13,554 tons, the bourse said today, the lowest since at least when records began in January 2003 and taking this year's decline to 47 percent. Including those at the LME and the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, they totaled 221,519 tons, or 4.3 days of global consumption, according to Bloomberg calculations. Last year's average was 4.9 days.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said today two explosions along roads at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia caused no injuries or production disruption. Grasberg is the world's second-largest copper mine.

Phoenix, Arizona-based Freeport-McMoran said on Sept. 10 a ``small-scale failure'' at the mine will reduce copper and gold output in the second half. The company cut its 2008 production target to 4.03 billion pounds of copper, 1.6 percent below an earlier estimate.

Industrial production in China, the world's largest consumer of industrial metals, expanded 12.8 percent in August from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today. Still, that's the slowest pace in six years and below the 14.5 percent median estimate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.