Shanghai copper and zinc slip

Copper touched two-week lows on Thursday as a murky outlook for the global economy fuelled selling and dragged down equities, but losses were capped by hopes demand from top market China will remain healthy. Shanghai's benchmark third-month copper slipped 0.8 percent to close at 56,400 yuan a tonne, off a low of 56,050 yuan, which was its weakest since July 30.
China's copper imports rose 4.5 percent month-on-month in July, the first increase in four months, in what could signal a pickup in demand ahead of the anticipated peak in consumption in September. Shanghai's third-month zinc fell as low as 16,435 yuan, a tad shy off its 5 percent downside limit of 16,390 yuan, before closing at 16,535 yuan, down more than 3 percent.