Copper futures trade steady at Rs 609.65 per kg on lower inventory, stimulus hopes

Copper prices traded flat at Rs 609.65 per kg on January 14 as participants increased short position as seen by the open interest. The base metal recovered to trade steady after a flat- to-negative open.

Base metals consolidate in today’s session after mixed trading at the start of the week, and US President-elect Joe Biden to announce over $1.5 trillion stimulus package to jumpstart the economy will keep the downside capped.

The red metal prices were getting support from plummeting stocks at LME and ShFE-approved warehouses along with signs of tightness in the physical market.

The US dollar traded slightly firm at 90.39 or up 0.08 percent in the evening session.

Neha Qureshi, Technical Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, said, “LME Copper is holding well above 21-Daily Moving Average which is placed at $7,910 levels above which will continue its positive momentum up to $8,035-$8,070 levels while support is at $7,970-$7,945 levels.”

MCX Copper January holds support at Rs 607 levels which is also a 21-day moving average from where a bounce-back can be expected. Qureshi advises her clients to buy MCX January Copper around Rs 608-607.50 with a stop loss of Rs 606 and a target of Rs 613.

MCX iCOMDEX Base Metal Index fell 65.97 points, or 0.48 percent, at 13,695.44 at 18:21.

In the futures market, copper for January delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 611.20 and a low of Rs 607.35 per kg on the MCX. So far in the current series, the base metal has touched a low of Rs 548 and a high of Rs 631.20.

Copper delivery for January slipped Rs 1.15, or 0.19 percent, to Rs 609.65 per kg at 18:22 hours with a business turnover of 4,063 lots. The same for February contract was higher by Rs 0.15, or 0.02 percent at Rs 612.50 per kg with a turnover of 1,116 lots.

The value of January and February’s contracts traded so far is Rs 1,022.22 crore and Rs 163.58 crore, respectively.

MCX Copper price is expected to trade sideways having support at Rs 606 level and resistance at Rs 611 level, said Motilal Oswal.

Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency & Commodities, CapitalVia Global Research Limited, said, “Copper is sustaining below the resistance of Rs 615-619 levels and we may expect the market to continue to do the same in the evening session.” He said levels of Rs 603-598 could be tested on the downside.

At 1256 (GMT), the red metal price edged higher, quoting $8,020 per tonne in London.

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