Shanghai copper fell nearly 1 percent on Tuesday after China tightened monetary policy by more than expected over a long holiday weekend, and zinc dropped by its daily limit on weak demand and arbitrage. The most active Shanghai August copper contract slipped 680 yuan, or 0.9 percent, to 59,960 yuan ($8,662) by the close.
Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were shut on Monday for a national holiday. Copper inventories monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 13 percent, or 5,725 tonnes, to 38,829 tonnes in the week to last Thursday. The key zinc futures contract in Shanghai fell by its daily 4 percent limit, pressured by weak domestic demand and by heavy arbitrage-related selling as the market caught up with lower London prices, traders said.
Shanghai August zinc dropped 4 percent to 16,070 yuan, a contract low, before recovering a little to close at 16,085 yuan. LME metal lost 2.4 percent to $1,935 by 0700 GMT. Shanghai zinc prices are down 15 percent so far this year, while LME futures are off around 18 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.