Copper futures see decline amid increase in physical supply

Copper futures declined slightly on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) Friday amid an increase in physical supply last week, according to a report Friday by London-based metal information provider Metal Bulletin (MB).

The most-traded copper contract for delivery in August ended at 48,210 yuan ($7,734.02) per ton on the SHFE Friday, down 460 yuan or 0.95 percent from Thursday, but the market still ended the week with a 2.0 percent week-on-week rise. The trading volume decreased 65,028 lots Friday compared to Thursday's 446,866 lots.

The physical inventory of copper on the SHFE increased by 6,432 tons to 97,012 tons last week, and prices fell slightly after the expiry of the May contract, the report from MB said, citing a report by Nanjing-based Donghua Futures Co.

Some investors still have high expectations that the central government will release further support policies to prop up economic growth, which will also help to lift related metal markets such as copper, according to a note released by Donghua Futures in early May.

China Railway Corporation announced at a teleconference on April 30 that railway investment would be raised to 800 billion yuan in 2014.

In addition, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, called for bankers to give priority in mortgage lending to first-home buyers last week, which helped to lift sentiment toward base metals such as copper, according to a report from Australian newspaper The Australian last week.

China is the world's largest copper consumer, and a stable housing market is likely to boost other kinds of consumption as well, such as for home appliances, which use copper as a raw material.

Although copper prices have seen a rebound since last week, investors should still be cautious toward the market, given the declining production of refined copper domestically and the continuous deficits of domestic non-ferrous metal manufacturers in the first quarter this year, the note from Donghua Futures said.