Copper falls on China and Greece worries, tin shrugs off quota

Copper and other base metals fell on Tuesday on concerns about demand in China and following the breakdown in debt talks between Greece and its European partners. Investors were unnerved by data showing average new home prices in China's 70 major cities fell for the ninth straight month in January.
"This generally suggests weaker demand for metals because the real estate sector accounts for example for nearly half of Chinese copper demand," said analysts at Commerzbank in a note.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange ended 1.7 percent lower at $5,650 a tonne, after closing little changed in the previous session.
Metals trading volumes have been winding down in Asia ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in China.
Chinese markets will be closed from Wednesday until next Tuesday, with many downstream users taking a longer-than-expected holiday due to fragile demand and ample supply.
"We don't see a lot turning around significantly after Chinese New Year," said analyst James Glenn of National Australia Bank in Melbourne.
The breakdown in Greek debt talks also gave investors jitters about potential disruption when Greek credit lines expire in 10 days time.
"I would assume that today's weakness is due to the EU wobbles. Europe is not the biggest consumer of most of the metals, but it does have implications for global growth," said Caroline Bain, senior commodities economist at consultancy Capital Economics.
Copper has shed 10 percent this year and touched a 5-1/2 year low last month on worries about demand in top metals consumer China and as inventories rose, highlighting excess metal.
LME inventories rose again on Tuesday, bringing total stocks to 295,475 tonnes, a rise of two thirds so far this year.
Tin ended 0.4 percent lower at $18,050 a tonne even though a group of Indonesian tin smelters put in place a three-month self-imposed quota to cap exports at 2,000 tonnes per month, in a bid to boost prices. The market had noted that the smelter group had failed to agree on a moratorium, traders said.
Tin prices have slipped seven percent so far this year and by one fifth over the past six months as investors worry over demand for the solder material.
Aluminium ended 0.4 percent lower at $1,817, zinc fell 2.2 percent to $2,103.50 and lead fell 2.2 percent to $1,793. Nickel, untraded at the close, was bid at $14,225, down 2.6 percent.