Shanghai copper lower

Shanghai copper edged lower on Wednesday, while London futures scored modest gains, paring losses from the previous session following a record fall in US existing home sales. "We are seeing a fight between short-term bears and long-term bulls. The long-term bulls buy the dips, feeling that fundamentals, inflation risks as well as ample liquidity in the market are on their side," said Zhou Jie, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures.
Benchmark third-month Shanghai copper ticked down 0.26 percent to 56,770 yuan. Prices were also pressured by a second daily rise in LME copper stocks, up 1,625 tonnes to 403,825 tonnes. On a more bullish note, the International Copper Study Group reported a deficit of 190,000 tonnes in the first five months of the year, versus an 8,000-tonne surplus at the same time last year. LME zinc rose 0.2 percent, having earlier rallied almost 2 percent on Chinese arbitrage trade, while Shanghai fell 0.6 percent.