Stage set for fall in local commodities

Chinese commodities could be in for a drop Monday due to declines in most major international futures after the domestic markets closed Friday.

The most traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) finished Friday right about where it started at 58,980 yuan ($9,411.49) per ton. Because the Chinese mainland markets close at 3 pm, the contract didn't reflect the losses in international copper futures later that day.

The benchmark three-month contract on the London Metal Exchange (LME) lost about 1.3 percent Friday to finish at $8,118.20 per ton, down on concerns over demand in China, the world's largest consumer of the metal.

Still SHFE might avoid a fall if the markets deem that copper imports rose more than expected last month. China imported 394,837 tons of unwrought copper and copper products in September, up almost 11 percent from the previous month, and up 3.8 percent from the same period the previous year, according to figures released Saturday by China's General Administration of Customs.

On the precious metals side, the SHFE December gold future rose about 0.1 percent Friday to close at 359.95 yuan per gram. On Comex, the December gold contract fell 0.6 percent to finish at $1,759.70 per ounce.

In agricultural commodities, the May soybean contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.67 percent Friday to close at 4,735 yuan per ton. As with SHFE copper and gold, the domestic soybean contract's closing price Friday did not take into account the losses on its international counterpart.

The most traded soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 1.68 percent Friday to finish at $15.224 per bushel.

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