By Millie Munshi
March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Copper prices jumped the most in three weeks on speculation that demand will rebound in China, the world’s largest user of the metal.
China’s economy will improve this year as 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) of stimulus spending takes effect, government officials said today. The country’s copper buying has a “long way to go,” Scotia Capital Inc. said. Prices climbed 7.4 percent last week on speculation government spending in the U.S. and China will revive the global economy and lift metals consumption.
“Commodities are bouncing, with copper in particular,” after the comments from Chinese officials, Peter Boockvar, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, said in an e-mailed note today. “It implies that China will do and spend everything possible” to boost its economy, Boockvar said.
Copper futures for May delivery rose 7.6 cents, or 5 percent, to $1.592 a pound at 9:10 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division. A close at that price would be the biggest gain for a most-active contract since Feb. 6.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose $140, or 4.1 percent, to $3,525 a metric ton ($1.60 a pound). The price reached a record $8,940 on July 2.
To contact the reporter on this story: Millie Munshi in New York at mmunshi@bloomberg.net
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