time to short, page-23

re: metals up Surely this will rally next week
Copper in Shanghai Rises to Two-week High on Falling Stockpiles

By Xiaowei Li

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Copper prices in Shanghai rose to the highest in two weeks as stockpiles of the metal in warehouses in China fell to their lowest in almost 18 months. Aluminum also rose to a one-week high.

Copper inventories in Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouses fell 14 percent to 27,141 metric tons, the lowest since June 2, 2005. Aluminum stocks plunged 34 percent to 17,293 tons. Copper prices in China, the world's biggest user of the industrial metal, fell 8.7 percent last week to a three-month low.

``Users who stepped up buying at lower prices will probably have to draw on stockpiles as China lowered imports,'' said Shen Haihuai, vice president of Maike Futures Co. before the release of the latest weekly inventory data.

Copper for delivery in January on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1,770 yuan, or 2.8 percent, to settle at 65,690 yuan ($8,363), the highest since Nov. 11. The contract has gained 7.1 percent since reaching a three-month low of 61,310 yuan on Nov. 17.

Metal for immediate delivery in Changjiang, Shanghai's biggest spot market, rose as much as 300 yuan, or 0.5 percent, to 65,180 yuan a ton today,

China's imports of copper and copper products, the driving force behind an 83 percent rise in the metal's price in the past year, fell 22 percent in the first 10 months of 2006 to 1.7 million tons, the Beijing-based customs office said Nov.8.

Chinese production of copper, used to make wire and pipes, rose 8.9 percent in October from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.

Copper output increased to 248,000 tons last month, it said in an e-mailed statement. Output rose 20 percent to 2.41 million tons in the first 10 months of this year, compared with the same period last year, it said.

Shanghai aluminum rose 220 yuan, or 1.1 percent, to 20,280 yuan, the highest in a week.

On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose $70, or 1 percent, to trade at $7,050 at 3:43 p.m. Shanghai time