Metals look for direction after stimulus

Chinese copper and gold futures rebounded Friday from the previous session's loss as the market continued to bounce between optimism over recent monetary stimulus announcements and pessimism over deteriorating fundamentals in the struggling global economy.

The most traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose 0.73 percent to close at 59,740 yuan ($9,471) per ton, after falling 2 percent Thursday.

The three-month contract on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose 0.4 percent Friday to end at $8,292.80 per ton.

Although both key copper contracts finished up Friday, neither posted gains for the week, with the SHFE contract shedding 1 percent over the previous week.

Analysts suggested that the lack of momentum shows a growing focus on fundamentals, as opposed to speculation about macroeconomic policy from the world's largest economies.

"The physical markets and the fundamentals really don't necessarily justify the rally, so the market's having second thoughts," Leon Westgate, an analyst at Standard Bank in London, told Reuters.

All SHFE base metal futures rose Friday, but the gains weren't enough to bring the contracts into the black for the week. The December aluminum contract added 0.25 percent Friday, but fell 0.94 percent for the week. December lead grew 0.97 percent Friday, but finished down 0.28 percent for the week. And the January zinc contract added 0.83 percent for the day, but lost 0.73 percent for the week.