Copper gains on China imports, US new home sales

Copper prices were higher on Thursday in New York and London after new data showed demand up in China.

December copper on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added  3 cents to $3.49 per pound, while three-month copper gained $80 to $7,765 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange.

The gains came even though LME inventories were up by 75 tonnes and Comex stockpiles remained even.

China’s imports of copper were up 17 percent in September from August’s numbers and 46.2 percent higher than they were at the same time last year.

Prices were also likely helped by US data that showed new home sales were up by 4.8 percent in September, even though analysts pointed out that the gains were primarily due to steep downward revisions in August’s new home sales numbers.