Copper Little Changed in Asia Ahead of U.S. Housing Report

By Glenys Sim

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Copper traded little changed in Asia after falling the most in a week yesterday on rising stockpiles and on concern the deepening recession will slash demand for industrial metals.

The metal slumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, ahead of a report tomorrow that economists say will show U.S. housing starts and permits probably dropped to record lows last month. Builders are the largest copper users in the U.S., the second-largest consumer of the metal after China.

“The weak international economic environment continued to weigh on base metals,” David Moore, chief commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in an e-mail today. “Copper declined, influenced by further hefty gains in LME stocks.”

Copper fell 0.2 percent to $3,351 a ton on the London Metal Exchange at 3:09 p.m. in Singapore, after dropping to $3,285 earlier. Metal for April delivery dropped as much as 2.6 percent to 27,070 yuan ($3,958) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange and ended the day at 27,220 yuan.

Inventories of copper tallied by the London Metal Exchange rose 3.9 percent to 409,100 tons yesterday, the highest since Jan. 13, 2004.

Among other LME-traded metals, aluminum fell 0.9 percent to $1,388 a ton, zinc was 2.6 percent lower at $1,217, lead dropped 1.5 percent to $1,147.50, and nickel lost 1.3 percent to $11,400. Tin hadn’t traded by 3:11 p.m. in Singapore.

To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net