Copper futures set to remain under pressure

Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) copper prices climbed on Wednesday, the last trading day of 2014. The market closed on January 1 and 2 due to the New Year holidays.

The most-traded copper contract for March delivery on the SHFE ended at 45,800 yuan ($7,373.80) per ton Wednesday, up 510 yuan or 1.13 percent from the previous trading session. The price was up 170 yuan, or 0.37 percent, on a weekly basis.

"Some shorts are trying to square their positions before the year-end holidays to lock in recent gains," Xu Yongqi, metals analyst at Guotai Junan Futures, was quoted as saying by a report Wednesday from London-based metal information provider Metal Bulletin.

Copper futures started last week with a slight dip, the most-traded copper contract for March delivery on the SHFE slipping 1.1 percent to 45,030 yuan per ton on December 29.

Copper faces pressure from weak demand and a strong US dollar, Reuters reported on December 29, citing a report from China-based futures company Capital Futures.

China consumes nearly 45 percent of the world's copper supply, and the country's economic growth is expected to slow to around 7 percent in 2015. The cooling economy weighed on the country's demand for copper imports in 2014, according to the Reuters report.