London copper prices rose 1.3% to $8,869.50 a tonne on Tuesday on reports that China could bolster Italy’s flagging economy by buying its bonds. In the previous session, copper – considered a good indicator of economic activity – was dragged to a one-month low after Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest producer, said some of its clients in the United States and Europe have asked to cancel orders.
Italy has asked China to make “significant” purchases of Italian debt, the Financial Times reported on its website on Monday, saying that the chairman of China Investment Corp, headed up a delegation to Rome last week. Meanwhile Greek workers threatened to sabotage a new property tax, a last-ditch effort by the government to please international lenders, ignoring warnings that Athens will run out of cash next month and the US treasury secretary flies to Poland to meet with EU finance ministers on the Greek crisis.
On Monday The Globe and Mail quoted a report in a Chile newspaper saying Codelco executives fear a repeat of the 2008 collapse in copper demand that saw the company’s worst-ever sales campaign.
Reuters reports US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will make a one-day trip to Poland this week for an unprecedented meeting with euro zone finance ministers as growing fears of a potential Greek debt default rip into Europe’s banking sector.
