Copper inches as much as 1-week excessive with China knowledge in focus

© Reuters. Copper inches up to 1-week high

Investing.com – Copper prices inched up on Monday to hit a one-week high, as market players looked ahead to a deluge of data this week which could provide more evidence of a slowdown in China.

are due on Tuesday, followed by on Wednesday and and on Saturday.

for March delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on 0.4 cents, or 0.19%, to trade at $ 2.081 a pound during morning hours in London. It earlier rose to $ 2.094, the highest since November 27. Meanwhile, on the London Metal Exchange added 0.15% to $ 4619.00 a metric ton.

Despite recent gains, copper prices are down 11% since the start of November as a combination of a stronger dollar and persistent worries over future demand prospects from China weighed. The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for nearly 45% of world consumption.

Elsewhere in metals trading, fell off the previous session’s three-week high on Monday, as market players prepared for the first U.S. rate hike since 2006 later this month.

The Labor Department said Friday the U.S. economy added , beating expectations for 200,000. The unemployment rate , matching forecasts.

The robust data solidified expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade at its upcoming meeting on .

While investors widely expect U.S. interest rates to start rising later this month, they anticipate the pace of increases to be gradual. A gradual path to higher rates is seen as less of a threat to gold prices than a swift series of increases.

The , which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.35% to 98.61. The greenback lost almost 2% last week, as the surged after the latest easing measures announced by the European Central Bank on Thursday fell short of market expectations.

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Copper inches as much as 1-week excessive with China knowledge in focus