Investing.com - Copper prices inched higher on Thursday, as investors digested key Chinese manufacturing data.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper for December delivery traded at $3.026 a pound during European morning hours, up 0.8 cents, or 0.28%.
A day earlier, copper prices lost 1.0 cent, or 0.35%, to settle at $3.017 a pound.
Futures were likely to find support at $2.974, the low from October 21, and resistance at $3.045, the high from October 22.
Data released earlier showed that the preliminary reading of China’s HSBC manufacturing index inched up to a three-month high of 50.3 in October from 50.2 in September and above forecasts for 50.3.
Despite the improvement in the headline number, the level of output in factories fell to a five-month low of 50.7 this month, underlining concerns over a cooling economy.
A government report on Tuesday said that China’s economy expanded at an annual rate of 7.3% in the third quarter, down from growth of 7.5% in the preceding quarter.
While the figure exceeded market expectations of 7.2%, it was also the slowest expansion since the first quarter of 2009.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.
Elsewhere on the Comex, gold futures for December delivery shed $2.30, or 0.18%, to trade at $1,243.20 a troy ounce, while silver futures for December delivery declined 4.1 cents, or 0.24% to trade at $17.19 an ounce.
Market players looked ahead to the release of key U.S. data later in the session for further indications on the strength of the economy and the future path of monetary policy.
The U.S. will release the weekly report on initial jobless claims later Thursday.
Data on Wednesday showed that the U.S. consumer price index ticked up 0.1% last month from August, while core consumer prices, which exclude energy and food costs, also rose 0.1%.