Market and product

Copper rose for the first time inthree sessions on speculation that demand will climb aftergauges of manufacturing advanced more than estimated in Chinaand the U.S., the world’s largest consumers of the metal.

The factory measure in China showed a preliminary Mayreading of 49.7, HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics saidtoday, compared with 48.3 projected in a Bloomberg survey ofeconomists. In the U.S., a Markit manufacturing index increasedto 56.2, topping estimates. Sales of previously owned Americanhomes rose in April for the first time in four months, theNational Association of Realtors said.

“Better housing-market and manufacturing data signalimproving demand,” Tom Power, a senior market strategist at RJOFutures in Chicago, said in a telephone interview today.

Copper futures for delivery in July gained 0.6 percent tosettle at $3.142 a pound at 1:08 p.m. on the Comex in New York.The metal fell 1.4 percent in the prior two sessions.

On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in threemonths rose 0.6 percent to $6,875 a metric ton ($3.12 a pound).

LME stockpiles fell for a 22nd day to 177,350 tons, thelowest since September 2008. Inventories are down 52 percentthis year.

Copper for immediate delivery on the LME traded at a $80premium to the three-month contract, compared with $54yesterday. The gap may widen as far as $150 over the comingmonth because of the drop in stocks, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.said in a report today.

Nickel for delivery in three months climbed 1 percent to$19,700 a ton in London. Prices are up 42 percent this year, themost among the main six metals traded on the LME, after leadingglobal miner Indonesia barred raw-ore exports in January.

Aluminum for delivery in three months rose 1.6 percent to$1,796 a ton in London. Prices will average $2,010 next year,Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report. Tin, zinc andlead also advanced.