The three-month prices of base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange universally rose during the morning session on Friday July 12, buoyed by a slew of positive economic data released from China.
China's trade balance, which tracks the monetary differential between a country's net imports and exports over a period of time, increased a significant 23% year on year to 345 billion yuan ($19.65 billion). Chinese banks also extended 166 trillion yuan in new loans to boost infrastructural development in the region, up 40% year on year, but some market participants were not overly optimistic. "Although the overall balance came in near expectations, imports into China dropped by 7.3% year on year in June, worse than market expectations of a 4.5% fall and follows a massive 8.5%...