Copper ends week on a high note

Copper ended the week on a high, with London Metal Exchange spot prices rising a cent on Friday to US$0.81828/lb, according to information supplied by Chile's state-run copper agency Cochilco. The price was the highest since early August, when the red metal hit a year-to-date peak of just over 82 cents a pound. The three-month price of US$0.82486/lb was pushed higher by speculative buying and Chinese scale-down buying, according to analysts at Barclays Capital. "Next upside resistance area is positioned at US$1830-40/t [US$0.83-0.835/lb], which we think is likely to be tested in the short run," they wrote. Copper stocks stood at 964,400t on the three major exchanges as of Thursday. Of the total, 604,900t was in LME warehouses, 273,798t in New York Comex warehouses and the rest in those of the Shanghai exchange.