MELBOURNE, June 18 (Reuters) - London copper slipped on
Monday and touched a near two-week low hit in the previous
session on pressure from a stronger dollar, while a holiday in
China drained buying interest from the market.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper eased by 0.2
percent on Monday to $7,006.50 by 0118 GMT, following losses of
2.2 percent in the previous session. It earlier touched a near
two-week low of $6,996 first hit on Friday.
* HOLIDAY: The Shanghai Futures Exchange was closed on
Monday for a holiday.
* INVESTORS: Hedge funds and money managers raised their net
long positions in COMEX copper in the week to June 12, by 28,941
contracts to 77,740 contracts, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday. This was the strongest
net long position since January.
* STERLITE: A minor leak has been detected in the sulphuric
acid storage plant in Vedanta's south Indian copper
smelter, a government official said on Sunday, about a month
after the state ordered its shutdown after protests in which 13
people died.
* ALUMINIUM: LME aluminium, which hit its weakest in
seven weeks at $2,200.50 a tonne on Friday, recaptured the
100-day moving average as it traded at $2215.
* METALS DEMAND: Japan's exports rose in May at the fastest
pace in four months thanks to increased shipments of cars, car
parts, and semiconductor equipment in a sign that global demand
is gaining strength.
* COBALT: Panasonic Corp expects to more than
triple its cobalt consumption in five years' time, industry
sources said, even as the company aims to develop cobalt-free
automotive batteries in the near future.
