copper to stay high, upside limited—gs:

摘要

Copper prices should stay high, but are unlikely to break nsignificantly to the upside due to a loss in global auto-sector ndemand, global monetary tightening and higher energy ncosts, US investment bank Goldman Sachs said last week. n“Although we continue to see a generally strong cyclical nbackdrop for metal demand, the combination of escalating nmilitary action in [MENA], tightening hydrocarbon markets npost the Japan events, increasing expectations of monetary ntightening globally and now another negative demand shock nstemming from downed Japanese manufacturing and power ncapacity, as well as Japan’s importance in globally integrated nsupply chains, suggests risks have fundamentally shifted to nthe downside,” the analysts said. The loss of auto demand nalone is equal to or greater than the loss of demand from nvarious industrial sectors within Japan, the report said. nCopper and zinc prices initially were expected to break out nof their recent ranges later in the year as Chinese buying nresumed and supplies grew tighter. Early signs of supply nshortages in some parts of Asia have already been reported, nit said. The loss of Japanese refined copper output is nexpected to further exacerbate the tightness, thus creating a n“demand pull.”