LME copper up, but 2nd biggest weekly fall beckons

LME Shanghai

Now Close Now Close
Copper 4115.00 4040.00 Suspended 33900
Aluminium 2015.00 2006.00 13950 13915
Zinc 1165.00 1200.00 Suspended 9210

Oct 24

In the news > Copper ends off 3-yr
lows, pares losses with stocks[nLN462939] > Shanghai copper and
zinc suspended Friday - SFE [nHKG38912] > Copper super cycle
is over -No. 1 producer Codelco[nN23449590] > A third of copper
smelters face losses in 2009-CRU [nSP32302] > Teck Cominco to
cut exploration, could sell assets[nN23411992] > Ivernia cuts
staff as it waits to restart lead min[nN23470381] > Alcoa to
cut production at Point Comfort unit [nSYU005363] >
Aluminium surpluses to grow despite China cutbacks [nLM138963]
> METALS INSIDER: Spreads pinpoint copper
capitulation[nLL661487]
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* London copper futures rose 1.9 percent on Friday,
snapping a four-day losing streak, but with prices down 15
percent so far this week, the market is set for its second
biggest weekly loss on record, on growing worries the world is
heading to recession.

* Copper prices have plummeted an astonishing 35 percent so
far in October and the market is heading for its biggest-ever
monthly slide, surpassing the March 1980 fall of just over 24
percent.

* London Metal Exchange copper MCU3=LX for delivery in
three rose 1.9 percent to $4,115 a tonne at 0103 GMT, having
touched a three-year low of $3,815 overnight. Nickel MNI3,
the complex's big loser -- down more than 80 percent from a
record high in 2007 -- rose $50 to $9,400.

* Chile's state-owned Codelco, the world's largest copper
miner, said the high price super cycle was over and it was
taking measures to address slumping prices.

* "The super cycle has come to an abrupt end," Codelco
Chief Executive Jose Pablo Arellano said on Thursday.

* Shanghai copper and zinc markets will be closed on
Friday, suspended for one day after falling by their daily
limits, three days running. Trade will resume on Monday.
(Reporting by Nick Trevethan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)