THE prices of copper in London went up yesterday as traders took profits on short positions ahead of Christmas.
Markets are waiting for more signs that Chinese stimulus measures are having an impact in the world’s top metals user.
China’s state grid is the biggest buyer of copper in the country that accounts for 45 per cent of global demand.
The price for three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME)  rose up by 0.1 per cent to $4,672.50 a tonne by an early short covering rally lost steam.
Prices fell by 1.5 per cent in the prior session, with the metal posting only a sluggish recovery from six-year lows below $4,500 a tonne hit in late November.
Shanghai Futures Exchange copper wallowed down by 0.9 per cent at 36,030 Yuan ($5,563) a tonne.
Further falls in oil prices next year represents the key downside risk for copper, Goldman Sachs said in a Tuesday note.
Brent crude touched an 11-year low on Tuesday, rebounding slightly after settlement, as a bearish outlook for 2016 and weaker profits for refining oil products kept a lid on gains.
The US investment bank sees copper’s biggest upside risk as a lack of rain in Zambia which could crimp the country’s output by 600,000-700,000 tonnes a year or 2.5 per cent of global supply given power is sourced primarily from hydro sources.
“Our base case forecast remains for copper prices at $4,800 per tonne at end 2015, and $4,500 per tonne at year-end 2016.”
Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia was plunged into a blackout on Tuesday affecting almost the whole of the country.
For oil the prices for the United States (US) crude briefly rose to a premium over internationally traded Brent following a report of a surprise dip in US inventories.
Front-month US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $36.38 per barrel, up by 24 cents from their last settlement.
Brent crude earlier traded as low as $36.28 a barrel before edging back to $36.44. REUTERS