Chicago 31/08/2016 - Copper futures drifted around the previous settlement with investors content to keep the red metal fixed to a tight-range until Chinese manufacturing data is released tomorrow.
Copper for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was last up 0.05 cents or less than 0.1 percent to $2.0695 per pound. Trade has ranged from $2.0680 to $2.0825.
This week has seen little turnover and even less news with many investors off on vacation before the Labor Day weekend. The remaining market participants are awaiting tomorrow's Chinese manufacturing PMI data to glean how the world's largest end-user of copper is progressing heading into the second half of the year.
A steady jump in LME copper inventories over the past week is a warning sign of an economic slowdown in China, market observers said. LME stocks have risen for seven consecutive days, climbing almost 70,000 tonnes to their highest since October 2015.
"The inflows have pressured prices, though it's worth noting that the decision making behind the deliveries would likely have taken place 6-8 weeks ago," Leon Westgate, an analyst at ICBC StandardBank, said.
News of two copper mine suspensions in Chile due to fatalities has underpinned the market - Chuquicamata, Codelco's second-biggest operation, closed yesterday while a fatality at the El Abra copper mine, which is majority-owned by Freeport-McMoRan, has halted some operations.
"[Metals treaded] water all morning inside a very narrow range across the board awaiting fresh directional stimulus despite the copper stock increase which was offset by news of an unfortunate accident at Chuquicamata which caused a production stoppage, however temporary," Sucden Financial said.
Here in the US, Friday's blockbuster July US employment report tops the list for American investors. A strong report would likely increased the odds of a September US rate hike and push the dollar higher – last trading at a two-week high at 96.02 on the dollar index.
In a preview of the Friday employment report, ADP non-farm employment change in August showed 177,000 Americans joined the labour market, besting the forecast of 173,000.
In other data, Chicago PMI for August disappointed at 51.5, missing the 54.1 estimate. Pending home sales month-over-month in July grew 1.3 percent, toppling economic consensus of 0.7 percent growth.
Meanwhile in American markets, the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P were each down 0.5 percent, while the dollar softened 0.1 percent to $1.1158 against the euro.
In other commodities, light sweet crude (WTI) Oil futures on the Nymex fell $1.69 or 3.7 percent to $44.66 per barrel, while the most active Comex gold contract was last trading at $1,311.30 per ounce, down $5.10.
(Editing by Tom Jennemann)