COMMODITIES-METALS: Copper Climbs to Top of Price Spiral

LONDON, Nov 11 (IPS) - This Friday copper went into the weekend slightly higher on a cash basis -- but a few clicks lower on three- month on the beginning of the week.

"No-one is sure this means an end to the bull run or the dip will be used to make further longer positions," said Leslie Nicholas, commodities analyst with London futures brokers, GNI.

But a large stock fall on the London Metal Exchange buoyed the commodity. Inventories closed down by 6,975 tonnes to 323,275 tonnes on Tuesday.

"We cannot deduce too much from one set of stock figures, and we would need to see a fall of a similar quantity over a period of weeks to switch from neutral to positive," said an analyst.

Positive news for prices came from rumours that Chile's Chuquicamata mine has been closed since last Sunday -- although it is believed that it will reopen this Saturday.

Metal Mining Corp of the United States announced that it will close its Copper Range smelter in Michigan next March, to comply with environmental regulations.

The market initially reacted to this reduction in production, but it became clear that production will be shifted elsewhere in the group and output unaffected.

Traders this week were closely watching the stock positions on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Stocks closed Tuesday down by 9,400 tonnes to 1,947,850 tonnes.

Nervousness was present earlier in the week as news emerged that large United States producers -- Reynolds Metals, Hoogovens and Alcoa -- plan to increase output over the next few years.

Mid-week, aluminium giant Kaiser said it is to reopen a 40,000 tonne potline at the Vasco smelter in Ghana, closed in September because of power shortages.

India's Nalco have said that it will bring forward plans to increase production by 30,000 tonnes by 1996, as part of its scheme to raise output from 218,000 tonnes a year to 345,000 tonnes a year in 1999.

Alcoa is significant in that it said that output will rise next year but that his must not happen until the current huge stocks are lower, said company officials.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service