SHFE copper falls as Fed meeting looms

Shanghai copper futures slipped Thursday ahead of the highly anticipated meeting of the US Federal Reserve's policy making board later in the day.

The most traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) fell 0.33 percent to close at 58,100 yuan ($9,177.14) per ton. The December contract traded within a tight 0.5 percent range after opening slightly above Wednesday's closing price.

The SHFE contract traded in line with the three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange (LME) Thursday, which fell 0.1 percent to $8,067 per ton before the Chinese mainland markets closed.

Commodities traders were looking ahead to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting during mainland trading hours Thursday. The market expects the meeting to result in another round of monetary easing from the Fed, also known as quantitative easing, according to the Australian bank ANZ.

Still, there was evidence that the copper market had already priced in another round of quantitative easing.

"Some longs prefer to take profit ahead of the (Fed) meeting since they've already made money on their positions and because there is always a chance that the Fed won't start another round of quantitative easing - even if many people expect it," a Shanghai-based trader with an international firm told Reuters Thursday.

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