Quotes from Commerzbank Corporates & Markets:
-In the absence of Chinese traders - markets in China will be remaining closed today and tomorrow for the New Year festivities - metal prices are getting off to a positive start to the new week of trading. Aluminium and nickel for example have each gained by 1% while copper is likewise trading more firmly at a good $5,700 per ton.
-According to the CFTC's statistics, net short positions were slashed by 35% to 9,200 contracts in the week to 17 February, solely as a result of short covering. Nonetheless, speculative financial investors have been positioned net short for 22 straight weeks now.
-As the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) reported last Friday, the global copper market was in supply deficit - after seasonal adjustments - to the tune of 524,000 tons from January to November 2014.
-This was 3½ times as high as last year, and also significantly higher than the ICSG estimated for the year as a whole back in October. The deficit came about as the result of a sharp increase in demand (+10% year-on-year) which exceeded growth in supply (+8%).
-As in the months before, a significant rise in demand had been observed not only in China, but above all in the EU and Japan. Furthermore, there was still a shortage of high-grade copper scrap, meaning that copper manufacturers had to resort increasingly to refined copper.
