BEIJING (Reuters) – Prices of copper and most other base metals trended lower on Tuesday, weighed down by disappointing Chinese inflation data and a strong U.S. dollar.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.2 percent at $9,853 a tonne as of 0726 GMT, while August copper, the most traded contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, was down 1 percent at 79,580 yuan ($10,937.78) a tonne.
China’s consumer prices rose for the fifth consecutive month in June but fell short of expectations, and producer price deflation continued.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics released on Wednesday showed China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2 percent in June from a year earlier, down from a 0.3 percent increase in May, the lowest in three months and below the 0.4 percent increase expected in a Reuters poll.
The dollar also held firm after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated he was cautious about the timing of any interest rate cuts, weighing on the market.
A stronger dollar makes it more expensive to buy dollar-denominated goods.
Meanwhile, China’s refined copper production in June was 1.01 million tonnes, down slightly from May due to smelter maintenance, but the figure exceeded expectations and was up 9.5% from a year earlier, according to a survey by the Shanghai metals market.
China’s top smelters
Some improvements were considered
Due to tight raw material supplies in the third quarter.
LME aluminium fell 0.5% to $2,483.50 a tonne, nickel down 0.2% to $17,110, zinc down 0.3% to $2,923, tin little changed at $34,360 and lead down 0.1% to $2,191.50.
SHFE’s aluminum fell 1.5% to 20,100 yuan per tonne, lead fell 1.1% to 19,430 yuan, nickel fell 2.9% to 133,740 yuan, zinc fell 1.3% to 24,120 yuan and tin fell 0.1% to 277,240 yuan.
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($1 = 7.2757 yuan) (Reporters Xi Liu, Mei-Mei Zhu, Rashmi Aich and Savio D’Souza Editing)
