SHANGHAI copper hit its highest in around seven weeks yesterday, underpinned by steady consumer demand and after London prices logged the biggest weekly rise in 11 months last week ahead of a long weekend.

    Copper prices are slowly recovering from near two-month lows hit mid-month, but given differing expectations of supply this year, analysts are mixed as to where prices will go from here.

    Mine supply is broadly expected to grow this year, but as miners dig deeper to obtain ore, supply tends to become more problematic and frequently falls short of expectations.

    “We’re bearish copper,” said Mark Keenan, analyst at Societe Generale in Singapore. “Based on supply growth, we see copper down at US$6,500 at the end of the year.”

    The London Metal Exchange was closed for a bank holiday yesterday. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) hit its highest since Aug. 5 on Friday and climbed by 3 percent for the week, its biggest weekly gain since Sept. 20, 2013 when it climbed 3.4 percent.

    The most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) edged up 0.2 percent to 50,670 yuan (US$8,238) a ton. It earlier touched 50,960 yuan, its highest since July 9.

    Domestic copper premiums in China last week hit the loftiest in almost two months at 420 yuan over the front month ShFE futures contract, which last week was close to its lowest in nearly two months, signalling consumers restocked.

    Investors have in general taken heart from improving U.S. economic signals such as brightening housing data, which have offset concerns that the Federal Reserve will soon raise rates, turning off the tap of cheap funds that have lubricated metals demand. (SD-Agencies)