Copper hits record near $6,000

Copper prices race higher as tight global stocks and supply concerns fuel buying.

April 7, 2006: 9:40 AM EDT


TAIPEI (Reuters) - Copper touched a record peak of $5,830 per ton Friday, edging closer to the magic $6,000 level, as tight global stocks and supply concerns propelled the red metal to new highs.

"A lot of short-term funds have been shifting heavily into gold and other commodities since the start of the new quarter," said Akira Doi, director at Daiichi Commodities Co. Ltd.

Copper for delivery in three months rose $24 a ton on the London Metal Exchange from Thursday's London close at $5,807 a ton.


Used widely in electronics and construction, copper has risen more than 8 percent this week and 32 percent since the start of the year as inventories have dwindled on soaring demand, especially from China. Strikes by miners around the globe have also hurt deliveries.

LME copper inventories fell another 625 tons to 113,300 Thursday, equivalent to about two days of global consumption. Three years ago LME copper stocks were about 800,000 tons.

The market was also supported by a bullish comments from the Fifth Annual World Copper Conference, in Santiago, Chile.

"With delegates to CRU's 5th World Copper Conference in Santiago highlighting the fundamental challenge of responding to strong demand, investors again took their cue from another fall in LME stocks," Peter Richardson, chief metals economist of Deutsche Bank, said in a daily note.

On the supply side, Grupo Mexico, the world's number-three copper producer, said Thursday it could still meet its orders for the metal despite a 14-day strike at its La Caridad mine.

U.S. gold futures briefly topped $600 an ounce in New York on Thursday for the first time since January 1981, while silver reached a 22-year peak at $12 an ounce, as a soft dollar and rising oil prices sparked buying by investors and speculators.

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