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Copper prices fell in London on Tuesday due to concerns about global demand and worries about China’s property sector, while the focus was on China’s upcoming monthly data.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 dropped 0.7% to $7,919 per metric ton in official open-outcry trading.
“Demand outside China is in pretty poor state, and the LME Week last week was probably a chance for people to realise it more widely,” said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.
“I am still optimistic about demand in (top metals consumer) China, but consumption in Europe and the United States is soft.”
China is due to report monthly retail sales and industrial production this week, which would help to gauge the consumption in its markets.
Meanwhile, “the supply has been quite strong, in copper especially”, Smith added. Rio Tinto RIO.AX, RIO.L reported higher quarterly copper and aluminium output on Tuesday.
The base metals have been largely unaffected by escalation in the Middle East and potential rebalancing of the global risk appetite in case the conflict between Israel and the Hamas militants widens. U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday.
The dollar was up with traders’ attention on this week’s speeches by central bank officials, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. A stronger U.S. currency makes dollar-priced metals less attractive for overseas buyers.
LME aluminium was down 0.5% at $2,170 a metric ton in official activity after hitting its lowest since Sept. 15 of $2,158.5 and zinc CMZN3 dropped 2.2% to $2,393 after touching $2,385 a tonne, lowest since Aug. 25.
Zinc inventories in the LME-registered warehouses continued to decline after recent sharp growth, falling by 1,600 tons to a three-month low of 81,850 tons, the LME daily data showed.
Lead CMPB3 lost 0.5% to $2,063.5 as the LME stocks extended their growth with 10,750 tons of arrivals to 105,625 tons, the strongest since May 2021.
Tin CMSN3 was down 0.2% at $25,200, and nickel CMNI3 fell 1.1% to $18,400.