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Copper has gained $0.09 to $3.18 a pound

Copper prices have notched their biggest daily gain of the year, as optimistic comments from a major commodities trading house spurred investors to buy the metal ahead of key manufacturing data from China.

Copper for September delivery, the most actively traded contract, rose 2.9 per cent to $US3.1770 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level since August 5. It was the largest one-day percentage gain since August 8, 2013.

Commodities trading house and miner Glencore gave a bright view of the copper market, forecasting strong demand from both China and the West in the second half. The company also said an expected glut of supply in the market would be tempered by shortages of scrap metal and the risk of disruptions from both new and old mines.

The comments from Glencore "lent much needed credibility to recent prognostications about improving fundamentals," Michael Turek, director of metals at Newedge, said. "Demand, as evidenced by recent (US) housing and auto data, seems solid while fractured supply is starting to be felt."

The brighter outlook was a surprise for investors, who had been focussed on concerns that a slowdown in China was taking hold, despite a so-called mini-stimulus launched by the government in April. China is the world's top copper buyer, accounting for some 40 per cent of global consumption, and a slowdown there could weaken demand for the metal.
Investors also worried that a partial resumption of copper exports from Indonesia, home of one of the world's largest copper mines, would add to an expected surplus of the metal.
HSBC is expected to release its China flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index for August today. Ahead of the report, some investors are locking in profits on bets against the industrial metal, according to Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities.

"There is a school of thought that says there may have been too much of a correction," Mr Melek said. "Copper views went from being extremely negative earlier this year to overly positive, and we have probably adjusted to being just right."

Copper is used in the manufacture of a wide variety of products, including smartphones and automobiles, making it sensitive to economic data.