Bloomberg Jan 20--Copper may fall on speculation accelerating growth in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal, will lead to higher interest rates, a survey showed.
Nine of 13 analysts, investors and traders surveyed by Bloomberg, or 69 percent, said the metal will fall next week. Three predicted higher prices and one forecast little change. Copper for delivery in three months was down 3 percent for this week at $9,365 a metric ton at 4:18 p.m. yesterday on the London Metal Exchange.
China’s growth accelerated to 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter, a statistics bureau report showed yesterday. China’s central bank raised interest rates on Christmas Day in an effort to cool the economy.
Copper will go down next week “on concerns that China will take action to curb growth,” said Charles Cooper, an analyst at Oriel Securities Ltd. in London.
The red bars on the attached chart are derived by subtracting bearish forecasts from bullish estimates, with readings below zero signaling the majority of respondents expect a decline. The green line shows the copper price. The survey data shown are as of Jan. 14.
The weekly copper survey has forecast prices accurately in 57 of the past 121 weeks, or 47 percent of the time.
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