Weekly Outlook on Copper - 16 Dec 2022

Copper prices fell on Thursday's session due to lower-than-expected industrial data from the world's top consumer, China, stoked demand concerns, while hawkish comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes dented market sentiment further. 

Moreover, Peruvian community members blocked a key mining corridor highway near the city of Cusco amid protests against the country's new president, who took office just last week, a source close to the Las Bambas mine said on Monday. The state-owned Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) on Wednesday cut its projection for the price of copper for 2023 to $3.70 per pound due to greater supply. 

The Goldman Sachs group said that commodities will be the best performing asset class once again in 2023. According to them, the first quarter may be bumpy due to economic weakness in the U.S and China, scarcities of raw materials from oil to natural gas and metals may boost prices after that.

                                                           Weekly outlook on Copper 

Technically, LME copper prices retreated on Thursday after two days of gains. Prices slipped below the prior swing lows and formed the Bearish Marubozu candlestick on the daily chart. On the Friday session, the price had breached the prior day's low and traded at the new week low at $8276. The immediate support for LME copper is around 8075 and 7925 while resistances are seen around $8433 and $8600.

On a weekly timeframe, MCX copper prices dragged from the resistance of 38.2% Retracement Levels and traded near to 700 marks with a weekly loss of 2.3% from the high of 717.60 levels. Price also tested the upper Bollinger band formation and pulled back from there. However, it has also taken support at 50-weeks SMA and momentum indicator RSI witnessed a positive reading on the chart. Hence, we are expecting a range-bound move in copper for the coming week. Upcoming important data like Consumer Confidence, Home Sales, and Final GDP, Durable Goods can put some volatility in the prices.

Important Key Levels: