Copper for February delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most active contract, started at RMB 46,220/mt in Thursday’s night session and then advanced to RMB 46,350/mt. The price of the SHFE 1502 copper contract rose to RMB 46,470/mt at the tail of the trading and closed up RMB 200/mt, or 0.43%, at RMB 46,370/mt. Positions increased 3,506 lots to 290,884 lots, and trading volumes totaled 123,798 lots.

SHFE copper hovered initially around RMB 46,350/mt on Friday and then fell back after failing to rising above RMB 46,530/mt. The price of the red metal hovered above RMB 46,360/mt in the afternoon trading session and ended up RMB 210/mt, or 0.45%, at RMB 46,380/mt. Positions for the SHFE 1502 copper contract added 150 lots to 287,528 lots, and trading volumes shrank some 69,000 lots.

Spot copper in Shanghai was quoted Friday at a RMB 60-160/mt discount to the SHFE 1412 copper contract. Standard- and high-quality copper sold for RMB 46,920-47,040/mt and RMB 46,980-47,080/mt, respectively.

Cargo holders rushed to sell since the price gap between the SHFE 1412 and 1501 copper contracts remained largely at RMB 360/mt. This, combined with large inflows of imported copper, led to abundant supply on Friday. Spot discounts were initially at RMB 60-120/mt and rose to RMB 100-160/mt subsequently. Some middlemen went bargain-hunting, while downstream producers bought only as needed. Spot copper discounts expanded RMB 20/m in the afternoon trading as cargo holders sold consistently.