Copper fell on Tuesday alongside global equities and oil prices as tensions between China and the United States and a run of weak economic data pushed investors to safer assets.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.7% at $7,762 a tonne at 1039 GMT, having fallen as low as $7,665.
Prices of the metal used in power and construction have risen from a 20-month low of $6,955 on July 15, but are down 20% this year due to a global economic downturn.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was due on Tuesday to visit Taiwan, a territory China claims. China threatened repercussions and flew several warplanes close to Taiwan, sources said.
Chinese stock markets saw their biggest fall in more than two months, European equities fell, the dollar strengthened and oil moved below $100 a barrel.
A bearish mood had already spread on Monday as economic data from the United States, Europe and Asia showed manufacturing and broader economic growth slowing.
Bullish investors lift copper despite weak factory data
Copper should be supported by limited supply and upcoming stimulus in China, the biggest metals consumer, said WisdomTree analyst Nitesh Shah.
“Towards the end of this year we could start to see pretty strong rallies in base metals,” he said.
Zinc prices on the LME were up 0.3% at $3,336 a tonne as signs of supply tightness intensified.
On-warrant zinc inventories in LME-registered warehouses have fallen to 26,650 tonnes from around 140,000 tonnes at the start of the year.
That has helped push the premium traders pay for quickly delivered cash zinc over the three-month contract to $113.50 a tonne from around $45 a month ago.
Zinc prices are down around 5% this year.
In other metals, LME aluminium was up 0.1% at $2,434 a tonne, nickel fell 2.2% to $23,065, lead slipped 0.3% to $2,048 and tin was down 1.5% at $24,530.
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