Commodities : Thursday, Dec. 5, 1985 : Copper Futures Rally Again

Copper futures rallied sharply for the second straight session Thursday on the Commodity Exchange in New York, reaching its highest price since mid-July.

Analysts said several factors have been influencing the copper market recently.

Domestic inventories have been declining and supplies are very tight, said Jack Barbanel, director of the futures trading division of Gruntal & Co. in New York.

Barbanel said inventories in warehouses that hold copper for delivery against futures contracts have been declining for months.

He noted also that the advance Thursday followed a price hike for copper by Asarco, one of the leading producers of high-grade copper.

Steve Platt, a metals analyst in Chicago with Heinold Commodities, said trade sources believe much of the buying has come from the Far East, possibly from Japanese industries that let their inventories fall. In addition, Platt said, some copper traders have been buying because they believe the rally in the stock market is indicative of a better economic environment, which would increase demand for the industrial metal.