AUG 15 FRIDAY

Copper advances on short covering.

Copper prices rose on Thursday in a commodity -

wide rally led by oil , but rising inventories and

doubts about demand growth in top consumer

China are expected to temper gains.

Three month copper on the Londoan Metal

Exchange traded up at $ 7490 a tonne at 0901

GMT compared with $ 7400.

The bench mark metak used in power and construction

hit a 6 month low of $ 7150 a tonne on Thursday

as the commodity sell off reached a frenzied

peak.

Negatives for copper include mtocks in LME

warehouses which are at a 6 month high.

Another dampener is the falling backwardness

or premium for cash material over the 3 month

contract which is at around $ 40 a tonne from around

4 240 a tonne in mid July.