Copper leapfrogged the pivotal $3 a pound level on Wednesday after a key gauge of the Chinese manufacturing sector, the world’s top consumer of the metal, showed new orders jumping to a nine-year high.

Copper for delivery in December trading on the Comex market in New York changed hands for $3.0415 a pound ($6,705 a tonne) in early afternoon trade, up 1.7% from Tuesday’s settlement.

Wednesday’s move brings gains for 2020 to 9.1% and 57% since the covid-19 lows struck in March. A fortnight ago, the bellwether metal reached the highest price since June 2018.

Domestic and export orders booming

Capital Economics said China’s September PMI readings suggest that “the economy is now entering a period of above-trend growth, which is indisputably good news for the prices of commodities, particularly industrial metals.” CLICK for complete article