Copper closes with gain of more than 7%

LONDON.- Copper closed with a sharp increase of 7.06% today at the London Metal Exchange (LME) after trading for US$ 1.68532 per pound of "grade A" material, compared to US$ 1.57419 on Friday and US$ 1.55605 on Thursday (the commodity's lowest value in 3.5 years).

Despite the game however, the monthly average dropped to US$ 1.69492, while the yearly average slipped to US$ 3.34078.

"We received some very encouraging figures regarding Chinese trade. The entire data series indicated that China was a net importer of all basic metals", stated Barclays Capital analyst, Gayle Berry.

The monthly imports of refined copper to China have grown 15% in October to an 8-month high and have been boosted by attractive profit margins.

Meanwhile, the future-3-month price ended at US$ 1.70369 per pound, up 7.01% from Friday (US$ 1.59211).

At the LME, stocks increased by 1,275 metric tons to 284,400. So far this year, copper has registered an accumulated increase of 86,950 MT (+44.04%).