Today's Copper Report

MONTREAL (Scrap Monster): Copper prices started the day under pressure after a strong run in the past week.  The Shanghai copper market started the day rising during overnight trading, supported by good Chinese auto sales results.  However, concerns over Chinese inflation readings and the Chinese central bank's ability to spur the economy without inflation pressure on consumers limited the gains.

In retrospect, copper could have garnered additional lift from a South Korean interest rate cut, from favorable UK Industrial Production data and also from strong Australian employment figures, but other traders feel that copper wasn't in a position to embrace fresh positive news items as the May low to high rally on the July copper charts was 35 cents a pound and for some traders that has left the copper market technically overdone. The Chinese inflation data may indicate fresh economic concerns and in turn may cast doubt on upcoming Chinese copper demand patterns.