Copper up for 4th day, technical outlook improving | Reuters.com

Copper up for 4th day, technical outlook improving | Reuters.com: "SINGAPORE, July 3 (Reuters) - Copper prices jumped for a fourth straight session on Monday, supported by sharp gains in Shanghai futures as investors kept bidding up the market due to strong fundamentals and an improved technical outlook.
By 0436 GMT, London Metal Exchange copper for delivery in three months was up $145 or 2.0 percent at $7,465 a tonne. On electronic trading platform Select, the metal had earlier traded between $7,430 and $7,480.
On Friday, copper ended up $15 at $7,320 after trading as high as $7,600, the highest since June 8. The market had rallied 8 percent on a weekly closing basis in London.
'I think it's reasonably healthy,' said Peter Richardson, chief metals economist at Deutsche Bank, adding that Friday's London close above a key resistance level of around $7,250 was important to maintain the momentum.
With mining companies still struggling with low grades of concentrate and labour disputes in Mexico and elsewhere, supplies are pretty tight, he said, even if the market is moving into the traditionally slow European summer period.
Prices of copper, used in construction and electronics and a barometer for industrial demand, reached a record $8,800 on May 11. Since then, the red metal has fallen 15 percent, but it is still up 70 percent from the end of last year.
LME dealers in Sydney, Tokyo and Shanghai said overall trade volume was thin as the U.S. market is closed.
Copper trading at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange is closed on Monday and will remain shut on Tuesday for the U.S. Independence Day holiday"