STAINLESS STEEL TUBE & PIPE   

Copper gained for a second day as the growth outlook improved in Europe and China, boosting demand prospects for industrial metals. The metal declined in Shanghai after its advance by the most in two weeks deterred purchases.

The three-month contract on the LME (London Metal Exchange) climbed as much as 0.3 percent to $7,650 a metric ton and traded at $7,648 at 12:43 p.m. in Singapore. Prices rallied 1.9 percent yesterday after a Sept. 11 statistics bureau report showed industrial output in China gained 13.9 percent in August from a year earlier, compared with the 13 percent median estimate of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“Economic data is painting a rosy picture, however it remains to be seen if this can be sustained in the fourth quarter,” Shen Xiang, senior analyst at Dayue Futures Co., said from Zhejiang today. “The existence of such uncertainties will keep the market range-bound for now.”

Copper for December delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined for the first time in three days, dropping as much as 0.4 percent to 59,330 yuan ($8,796) a ton. The most- active contract gained as much as 1.5 percent yesterday, the biggest intraday climb since Sept. 1.

“Chinese buyers are always cautious,” said Shen. “When the price falls, they’ll enter the market to buy, whether it’s to stockpile or for hand-to-mouth consumption. When the price rises, they stay out.”

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said the world’s largest metals consumer is in “good shape,” while cautioning that rising property prices threaten to stoke unrest. The European Commission also predicted yesterday that Europe’s economy may expand almost twice as fast as previously estimated.

“China’s economy is now in good shape, featuring fast growth, gradual structural improvement, rising employment and basic price stability,” Wen said yesterday at the World Economic Forum’s Summer Davos meeting in China’s northern port city of Tianjin stainless steel tubes.

Aluminum in London gained 0.3 percent to $2,136 a ton, zinc climbed 1.1 percent to $2,169 a ton and nickel rose 1.1 percent to $23,101 a ton. Lead dropped 0.3 percent to $2,243.25 a ton, while tin was unchanged at $22,300 a ton by 1:03 p.m. in Singapore.