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Comex copper hurtles toward 2000, ends '99 at high

NEW YORK: Comex copper futures eked out new highs on the last trading day of the millennium, toasting 1999's near 30-percent gain and forecasts of more strength on the back of robust global growth seen for 2000, analysts said.

Active March copper ended up 0.45 cent at 86.30 cents a lb, just below the new contract high print of 86.40 cents, its second in a row and third in a week. The intraday low was 85.55 cents.

Spot January settled up 0.45 cent at 85.25 cents a lb, up 27 percent compared to the 66.35-cent close on December 31 1998, on the continuation charts.

The entire base metals complex went out at highs, buoyed by fund buying and predictions that next year demand for industrial materials would remain high as overseas economies recovered further and the U.S. ecomomic boom continued.

"The base metals finished over in London on a very positive note for the year," said William O'Neill, director of futures research at Merrill Lynch.

"All the (London Metal Exchange) metals had a good day across the board," he said. "But today there was no real feature. It was extremely, extremely thin."

LME copper ended the afternoon kerb at a new 19-month high of $1,890 a tonne, up $14 from Wednesday's close after busting through chart resistance at $1,880 at midday.

Exchanges worldwide will be shut on Friday New Year's Eve. The LME, which was closed on Monday and Tuesday this week, will not reopen after New Years until Tuesday January 4.

The Comex will also reopen Tuesday, one day after other U.S. exchanges, leaving nothing to chance during the computer switchover.

Dealers expect producers and physical traders, many of whom closed books earlier this month, to return to the market as sellers on Tuesday, taking advantage of the attractive prices to hedge.

But any setback in the early dealings of 2000 are expected to be short-term, dealers said.

"I think we're in for a correction in the short-term but we're definitely going to maintain this level into next year," said Dan Horn, analyst at Refco Inc.

Estimated final volume for Comex copper on Thursday was 6,000 contracts, compared to official final volume Wednesday of 6,418.

LME warehouse stocks were up 2,425 tonnes at 789,975 tonnes in Thursday's report. Comex inventories on Wednesday were up 97 short tons at 91,599 short tons.

The nine-day relative strength index for March copper pushed deeper into overbought territory at 80 on Thursday, compared with Wednesday's close of 77.

Technical analysts usually interpret an RSI reading at 70 or higher as indicating overbought conditions and a reading at 30 or lower as oversold.-Reuters