Singapore 08/08/2016 - Copper contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange and London Metal Exchange saw muted impact from weakening Chinese July import data released this morning.
The most active SHFE October copper contract continued to fluctuate between slight gains and losses after the release of the data, rising just 20 yuan to 37,640 yuan per tonne at the close of morning trading.
Some 217,178 lots of the contract had changed hands so far, with open interest down slightly to 233,314 positions from around 234,000 positions earlier in the day. Open interest is still up from 225,438 positions at Friday’s close.
Chinese July trade figures had showed overall exports and imports falling 4.4 percent and 12.5 percent respectively, both on a year-on-year basis in US dollar-denominated terms. The decline in imports was the biggest decline since February.
In June, Chinese exports and imports had fallen 4.8 percent and 8.4 percent respectively.
The latest trade figures have deepened concerns over slowing Chinese and global demand - particularly now with the Eurozone facing economic uncertain after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union - but also raised the hopes of more economic stimulus from Chinese policymakers, industry watchers said.
China’s imports of unwrought copper and copper products fell 14.3 percent month-on-month to 360,000 tonnes in July, according to preliminary data published by the country’s General Administration of Customs on Monday.
July was the fourth consecutive month of decline on a month-on-month basis for Chinese copper metal and copper product imports.
The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price also held onto earlier gains and was last at $4,825 per tonne, up $36 from Friday’s close.
The Chinese equity market also did not see much negative impact from the data. The Shanghai Composite was last at 2,984.44, up 0.26 percent.
In other metals, SHFE October aluminum ended the morning session at 12,330 yuan, up 110 yuan, and October zinc increased 35 yuan to 17,470 yuan.
SHFE September lead dipped 55 yuan to 13,890 yuan, while January nickel surged 1,370 yuan to 84,340 yuan. SHFE tin was up 740 yuan to 121,040 yuan.