Copper slipped after erratic trade on Wednesday as a stronger dollar offset support from a Peruvian mine strike and robust manufacturing data, while lead hit a fresh record high. Copper for delivery in three months rose as high as $8,030 a tonne before ending the official session at $7,950, down $36 from Tuesday's close.
"Industry data from the eurozone was as expected and yesterday's US data was above expectations. All this implied that metal demand for the United States and the eurozone was relatively good," analyst Michael Widmer at Calyon said.
Eurozone manufacturing activity held steady last month while a pick-up in a key US manufacturing index on Tuesday calmed worries about a US economic slowdown.
"The offsetting feature is that the dollar has risen on the back of the positive data and the metal prices have been following the dollar quite strongly recently," analyst Jon Bergtheil at J.P. Morgan said.
A rising dollar makes metals more expensive for holders of other currencies. Trade was seen subdued throughout this week with Shanghai markets closed until next Tuesday and Tokyo until Monday. "The strike in Peru does not seem to have too much of impact because many producers managed to run their operations but I think it is still in the back of the market," Widmer said.
As a nation-wide mining strike went into its third day, Peruvian mine workers and government officials planned to meet for talks aimed at ending the walkout this week. Some mines had been affected by the indefinite strike, which began on Monday, but workers at many of the country's top pits were reporting for duty as usual.
Peru is among the world's top two silver producers and is the No 3 copper and zinc miner as well as the No 5 gold producer. Lead for three-months delivery touched an all-time high of $2,053, up 2.4 percent from Tuesday's last quote of $2,005/2,010, and ended the official session at $2,050.
Stocks of lead in LME registered warehouses stand at 42,750 tonnes, down more than 60 percent compared with July 2006. "The market for lead looks strong with plenty of demand from Asia," an LME trader said. Zinc closed $10 firmer at $3,870 versus a close of $3,860 on Tuesday, when it gained 2.8 percent after Xstrata said its McArthur River lead-zinc operation had halted mining. Aluminium fell $21 to $2,826 while nickel was $500 higher at $48,800. Tin firmed $150 to $14,150.
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