Local copper, gold poised for setback

Chinese copper and gold futures are primed to fall Monday as drops in international markets late last week make it unlikely either commodity will hold on to Friday's gains following their collapse over the previous five sessions.

The most traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) added 0.32 percent Friday to close at 50,690 yuan per ton ($8,205), finishing a week in which the contract plunged more than 8 percent.

By comparison, the benchmark three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange (LME) shed 1.5 percent Friday to end at $6,967.50 per ton, capping off a 6.2 percent lost for the week.

Commodities got off to rocky start Monday when copper and crude oil fell 3 percent for the day, mostly on concerns about the world's two largest economies, according to commodities analysts from the Australian bank ANZ. "The run of softer US data continued overnight, with early indications the economy has continued to lose momentum into April," they wrote Tuesday.

Also Monday, the price of gold suffered its largest one-day percentage drop since 1983, losing 9 percent. The June gold contract on Comex shed 7 percent last week to finish at $1,395.6 per ounce.

The June gold contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange recovered 2.36 percent Friday to close at 282.28 yuan per gram. However, the contract still finished the week down 11.41 percent.