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METALS-Copper steady, underpinned by stimulus hopes

Copper traded little changed on Tuesday, underpinned by expectations the United States and Europe would introduce fresh easing measures, while a firm dollar and a low appetite for risk curbed gains.

FUNDAMENTALS

• Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $7,566 a tonne by 0104 GMT, up 0.23 percent from the previous session when it closed almost unchanged. Prices have recovered by 3 percent from last week’s one-month lows but still remain in negative territory for the year.
• The most-traded November copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.38 percent to 55,040 yuan ($8,600) a tonne.
• European Central Bank President Mario Draghi must back up his pledge to do what it takes to protect the euro when the bank’s policymakers meet on Thursday or else face deep disappointment from investors hungry for - and expecting - immediate action.
• German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and U.S. counterpart Timothy Geithner said on Monday they were confident the countries of the euro zone would implement reforms needed to overcome their sovereign debt crisis.
• Investment in commodity indexes rose in June, snapping a three-month decline, as renewed hopes for a solution to the euro zone crisis boosted most risk assets, figures from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Monday.
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• Global stocks rose on Monday on expectations that the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve will take measures to support struggling economies when they meet this week, but the euro slid against the dollar on worries that the central banks will act less aggressively than hoped.
• The euro consolidated recent gains on Tuesday following a slew of negative economic news, while high expectations that major central banks were poised to add more stimulus helped keep risk currencies like the Australian dollar at multi-month highs.
• Japan’s Nikkei share average opened slightly lower on Tuesday as investors waited to see if the U.S. Federal Reserve will introduce further stimulus measures, though strong earnings may later provide buying opportunities for select shares.
• Brent oil ended down for the first time in five sessions on Monday as worries that expected stimulus from the United States and Europe may fail to lift their economies overshadowed signs of lower OPEC production.

MARKETS NEWS

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) * 0600 Germany Retail sales yy real Jun * 0645 French Consumer spending June * 0755 Germany Unemployment rate sa Jul * 0800 Italy Unemployment rate June * 0900 EZ Inflation, flash yy Jul * 1145 U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly * 1230 U.S. Personal income mm Jun * 1345 U.S. Chicago PMI Jul * 1400 U.S. Consumer confidence Jul * 2030 U.S. API weekly crude stocks Weekly * 2030 U.S. API weekly dist. stocks Weekly * 2030 U.S. API weekly gasoline stk Weekly PRICES Base metals prices at 0104 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 7566.00 17.00 +0.23 -0.45 SHFE CU FUT NOV2 55040 210 +0.38 -0.58 HG COPPER SEP2 343.00 1.40 +0.41 -0.17 LME Alum 1902.00 2.00 +0.11 -5.84 SHFE AL FUT NOV2 15435 25 +0.16 -2.59 LME Zinc 1856.00 -6.50 -0.35 0.60 SHFE ZN FUT NOV2 14680 50 +0.34 -0.78 LME Nickel 16180.00 -70.00 -0.43 -13.52 LME Lead 1943.25 -7.75 -0.40 -4.51 SHFE PB FUT 0.00 -14970.00 -100.00 -100.00 LME Tin 18270.00 0.00 +0.00 -4.84 LME/Shanghai arb^ 1287 Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ^ LME 3-month copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE third month ($1 = 6.3794 Chinese yuan)