Copper futures held back by negative investor sentiment

Chinese copper futures fluctuated within a small range amid downbeat trading sentiment last week, owing largely to a series of weak economic data released recently.

The most-traded copper contract for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose by 80 yuan, or 0.17 percent, from Thursday, closing at 47,580 yuan per ton Friday. The price was up 420 yuan, or 0.89 percent, on a weekly basis.

The benchmark three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was trading at $6,679.75 per ton, up 0.33 percent from Thursday, when the Chinese market closed at 3 pm Friday. The contract closed up 0.64 percent for the day at $6,700.50 per ton, but still down by 0.08 percent for the week.

The total trading volume for the SHFE January copper contract amounted to 1.09 million lots last week, down 6.84 percent compared with the 1.17 million lots during the previous week. Weaker-than-expected HSBC manufacturing data and other disappointing industrial data affected investor confidence in future demand for the metal.

HSBC Holdings PLC and Markit Economics' flash Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a preliminary indicator of manufacturing activity, fell to a six-month low of 50.0 for November, down from a final reading of 50.4 for October, Reuters reported Thursday. The figure was also worse than an early estimate of 50.2.

Meanwhile, in October, China's industrial output rose 7.7 percent year-on-year, lower than the 8 percent growth in September, while real estate investment only rose by 12.4 percent, also down from the previous month. Retail sales growth also slowed by 0.1 percentage points from September to 11.5 percent year-on-year.