India copper surrenders previous day's gains on dollar

Thu Jul 2, 2009 3:01pm IST

MUMBAI, July 2 (Reuters) - India copper futures gave away part of their previous days gains on Thursday afternoon as dollar recovered overseas, with investors awaiting the release of U.S. job data for direction, analysts said. The most-active August contract MCCQ9 was 1.09 percent lower 244.15 rupees per kg at 2:42 p.m., after hitting a low of 243.2 in early deals.

The contract had gained 1.8 percent in the previous session, when strong Chinese PMI and U.S. ISM data supported the red metal. The dollar rose, recovering after a Chinese Foreign Ministry official quelled some speculation about currency reserves diversification, while traders awaited an European Central Bank policy announcement and key U.S. jobs data later in the day. [USD/]

According to a Reuters poll, U.S. non-farm payrolls are expected to drop to 363,000 in June compared to 345,000 in May. See [ID:nLT651939]

The U.S. unemployment rate is projected to rise to 9.6 percent in June from 9.4 percent in May.

"Investors are cautious ahead of US job data," said Kapil Gandhi of STCI. "We expect to trade copper sideways in the range of 242-250 (rupees)."

In other base metals, July zinc MZIN9 was 1.06 percent lower at 75 rupees per kg, while lead for July delivery MLDN9 was 0.91 percent lower at 82.10 rupees per kg.