Copper Rises Above $4 Per Pound

With vaccine distribution ramping up and more incentive likely on the move, investors have been speculating on a world economic recovery — and that has increased the price of copper. The metal is sometimes described as Doctor Copper, as its price is seen as a global economic extension sign.

The issue now is whether the gains are sustainable or if the assembly has gone too far. And that will only display clear with time and data recording how fast the global economy is jumping back from the epidemic.

Copper rose over $9,000 a tonne for the first time after 2011

Copper, the world’s most important industrial metal, rose over $9,000 a tonne for the first time after 2011 on Monday, fed by risky bets on higher prices from China.

The amount of outstanding copper futures contracts leading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange has rebounded distinctly after the end of the lunar new year holiday, as stated by brokerage Marex Spectron.

After climbing 8.1 percent on Thursday and 6 percent on Friday, open interest in those copper futures extended an additional 6 percent on Monday to 365,000 contracts, as investors speculate on other gains for the metal utilized in everything from household goods to wind turbines.

Marex calculates the net speculative long position on the Shanghai exchange — the distinction within bets on rising and falling prices — is higher than 100,000 lots and close to the highest level after 2017. Mark Hansen, chief executive of Concord Resources, a London-based commodity trader, stated that it had been an exchange-led, risky move, but there are valid reasons for it.

In early trading on Monday, copper increased as much as 4 percent to $9,269 a tonne before drawing back to $9,060. This year, the metal is now up 15 percent, a show that has increased leading producers’ stock prices, together with Glencore, Freeport-McMoRan, and Antofagasta.