By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
COPPER prices rebounded as investors renewed their buying spree, hoping that supply constraints and buoyant demand would push the market to new peaks.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) gained 1.5 percent to US$10,533 a tonne in official trading after a volatile session the previous day, when it touched a record high before retreating to close in the red.
This is according to a market update from Access Bank Zambia which further indicated that LME copper notched a record peak of $10,747 on Monday, having gained nearly 40 percent so far this year.
And Absa Bank Zambia indicated that the most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced 0.6 percent to 76,300 yuan (US$11,865) a tonne, also near its record 78,270 yuan a tonne.
Still on the commodities market, gold prices rose on Tuesday to hover near a three-month high reached in the previous session as the dollar traded near multi-month lows, with investors awaiting United States consumer price data to gauge inflation.
Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to UD$1,839 per ounce, after hitting its highest since February 11 at US$1,845 on Monday.
United States gold futures were up 0.2 percent to US$1,841 per ounce.
Prices jumped more than three percent last week as the metal surpassed a key psychological level of US$1,800 and after weaker-than-anticipated April jobs numbers in the United States.
On the foreign exchange market, the Zambian Kwacha traded on the back foot on a close to close basis against United States Dollar on Tuesday.
This was mainly attributed to rising demand from the Energy and Agriculture sectors that continued to characterize the foreign exchange market while supply still remained low.
The USD/ZMW currency pair opened the day at K22.36/K22.41 per dollar with the Kwacha trading range bound until closure.
The local unit is likely to continue trading in the back foot in the near term as the demand/supply imbalance remains eminent.
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