METALS-Copper rises on economy hopes, Chile production dip
* U.S., Japan to stick to stimulus plans
* Chile's copper production falls 1.8 pct in December
* Coming Up: U.S. weekly jobless claims; 1330 GMT
LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Copper rose on Thursday to its highest level since October, helped by a dip in output in top producer Chile last month and signs that the United States and Japan will stick to plans to stimulate their economies. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left in place its monthly $85 billion bond-buying stimulus plan, arguing the support was needed to lower unemployment even as it indicated a recent stall in U.S. economic growth was likely temporary. And on Thursday a Bank of Japan deputy governor flagged the strongest signal yet that it will boldly implement more stimulus if needed to achieve the bank's new 2 percent inflation target. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $8,257 a tonne by 1056 GMT, up 0.4 percent after earlier hitting $8,291.25, its highest since early October last year. Copper production in Chile, the world's No. 1 producer of the metal, slipped 1.8 percent in December from a year earlier, although output for the whole of 2012 was up 3 percent. "What we are seeing generally across the base metals space is everything moving higher as risk appetite improves," said Standard Chartered analsyt Dan Smith. Smith also pointed to the lower Chile copper production numbers for December, and a media report that Rio Tinto Plc was considering a temporary halt to construction at its $6.2 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia. "This whole move up is part of the general theme, but nevertheless those things help," he said. Rio Tino later said its Oyu Tolgoi project was on track to reach commercial production in the first half of 2013. An encouraging sign in China's purchasing manufacturing figures or the U.S. January jobs report, both due on Friday, could further improve risk appetite and boost metals, traders said. But upside momentum may be hard to sustain before mid-February, with Lunar New Year looming in top consumer China. Copper supply is also still rising. Bonded stocks in China stood at about 900,000 to 1 million tonnes in the beginning of this year, three times more than the start of 2012, traders estimated this month. Tin rose 0.4 percent to $25,000 and zinc rose 0.6 percent to $2,169. Lead was at $2,456 from $2,439 and aluminium was at $2,122 from $2,104. Nickel was at $18,538 from $18,375.
Metal Prices at 1103 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T
Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2012 Ytd Pct
move
COMEX Cu 375.60 0.60 +0.16 365.25 2.83 LME Alum 2119.75 15.75 +0.75 2073.00 2.26 LME Cu 8252.75 26.75 +0.33 7931.00 4.06 LME Lead 2451.25 46.25 +1.92 2330.00 5.20 LME Nickel 18513.00 138.00 +0.75 17060.00 8.52 LME Tin 25005.00 355.00 +1.44 23400.00 6.86 LME Zinc 2160.50 65.50 +3.13 2080.00 3.87 SHFE Alu 15250.00 50.00 +0.33 15435.00 -1.20 SHFE Cu* 59450.00 440.00 +0.75 57690.00 3.05 SHFE Zin 16015.00 235.00 +1.49 15625.00 2.50 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN
SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07