Shanghai Copper at 2-Month Peak

Shanghai copper prices rose 0.7% on Monday to a two-month peak as smelters in China cut production amid natural gas shortages in some parts of the country, Reuters reported. “Due to tight gas supplies in northern China, such as in Hebei and Shandong, some copper processors have been cutting output,” CITIC Futures analysts said in a note in Mandarin. The impact on copper output may last into early next year, as big copper enterprises are still in talks with gas suppliers, the CITIC analysts said. The most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 0.7% to 54,700 yuan ($8,347) a ton on Monday. The contract hit a peak of 55,280 yuan during the session, its highest since Oct. 25. Meanwhile, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.7% to $7,136 a ton on Friday, hitting a two-month high at $7,139 per ton. LME is closed on Monday for the Christmas holiday.