Copper price rose on Monday as China sought to ease concerns over financial distress facing its property sector.
Chinese regulators on Sunday urged banks to extend loans to qualified real estate projects and meet developers financing needs where reasonable, in their latest efforts to ease concerns triggered by a widening mortgage-payment boycott on unfinished houses.
A growing number of home buyers across China threatened to stop making mortgage payments for stalled property projects, aggravating a real-estate crisis that has already hit the economy.
Copper rose 4.3% to $3.37 ($7,414) a tonne on the Comex market in New York.
Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last week forecasted copper to trade at $6,700 in the next three months, a 22% downgrade from its previous outlook.
The bank said a surging dollar will remain a headwind until macroeconomic risks subside.
(With files from Reuters)
