Copper Little Changed at $5,671 per Tonne

Copper prices were little changed on the London Metal Exchange today, falling less than 0.1 percent to $5,671 per tonne, according to Bloomberg. This is in part because economic data from China beat analyst estimates. Gross domestic product in China rose 7.4 percent in 2014, according to the statistics bureau, which was above estimates but still the slowest rate of growth since 1990.

“There is cautious optimism across the metals market today after the Chinese data,” Jeffrey Friedman, senior commodity broker at RJO Futures, told Bloomberg. “Some investors are betting that we could see an improvement in demand.”

On New York’s Comex, copper futures for March delivery fell 1.8 percent to $2.57 per pound.