Copper's year is closing, as it began, with a sparkle. True, prices have been all but range-bound, but that range remains rarified, with LME cash cathode holding above 3,000 dollars for weeks on end. A high of 3,275 dollars at the end of November was followed by a swift correction, prompted mainly by a dollar rally. Renewed dollar down-drift pulled the funds back in, but by the middle of this week they were starting to book year-end profits. The forward prices have remained under pressure, with the backwardation (cash-threes) resolutely above 100 dollars for eight solid weeks. The funds still like copper's story. In other commodities, investors have gone increasingly short. But they've stayed with copper. Comex commitments of traders figures spell it out. True, speculative open interest dropped from a net long of almost 30,000 lots at the end of November to under 22,000 in mid-December. This was partly due to a pull-back of over 11,000 contracts on the long side. But it also reflects a sharp fall in shorts, where the mid-December total (3,863 contracts) was the lowest in 22 months.
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