European elections send copper, petrochemical futures into retreat

Chinese copper and petrochemical futures fell yesterday as international markets dragged down domestic prices in the wake of the French and Greek elections Sunday.

The most active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), for August delivery, fell 1.23 percent to close at 57,590 yuan ($9,144.75) per ton. The contract opened 1.08 percent below Friday's closing price, closely following a 0.81 percent drop in the benchmark three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange (LME) in post-Asian trading Friday.

The LME was closed yesterday for a holiday. Meanwhile, the January contract for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), a petrochemical used to make plastic wrap, fell 2.47 percent to close at 10,055 yuan per ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange.

All of the most traded petrochemical futures took losses yesterday, following a precipitous drop in global crude oil prices over the weekend.

Nymex West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for June fell 5.14 percent from when the Chinese mainland markets closed Friday to 3 pm Monday, when it was trading for $97.16 per barrel.

Nymex crude went into its dive on Thursday, before the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its employment report for April, which sent the financial markets into a tailspin.

The elections in France and Greece yesterday roiled markets further after the two countries turned their back on governments that had been supporting financial austerity measures meant to deal with the eurozone's financial crisis.