Copper futures little changed near 1-week high

            Copper futures were little changed near a one-week high on Monday, as investors looked ahead to key economic data out of China later in the week to gauge the strength of the world’s second largest economy.

The March copper contract ended Friday’s session up 0.22% to settle at USD3.236 a pound.On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures for March delivery hit USD3.253 a pound, the most since January 20, before trimming gains to trade at USD3.238 a pound during European morning hours, up 0.05%.

Futures were likely to find support at USD3.191 a pound, the low from February 6 and resistance at USD3.258 a pound, the high from January 30.

On Thursday, China will release its monthly trade data, which will be followed by inflation numbers Friday. The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., data on Friday showed that the economy added 113,000 jobs in January, well below expectations for jobs growth of 185,000, after December's lackluster gain of 75,000 jobs.

It was the weakest two-month stretch of job creation in three years as inclement weather contributed to a slowdown in hiring.

Yet the report also showed that the number of people participating in the labor force edged up to 63% from a 30-year low of 62.8% last month, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked down to a five year low 6.6% from 6.7% in December.

Market players now looked ahead to Congressional testimony from new Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later in the week for clues regarding the future of course of U.S. monetary policy.

The Fed tapered its monthly asset purchase program by another USD10 billion to USD65 billion a month at its last policy meeting.

Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for April delivery rose 0.8% to trade at USD1,272.90 a troy ounce, while silver for March delivery advanced 1.1% to trade at USD20.15 a troy ounce. - investing.com