Copper prices fell on Wednesday, staying below a supportive level of $8,000 a metric ton, as a firm dollar and rising inventories in exchange warehouses weighed.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.4% at $7,976.50 a metric ton by 0233 GMT, having sunk below $8,000 on Tuesday for the first time since May 26.
LME aluminium fell 0.4% to $2,280.50 a ton, nickel declined 0.5% to $18,640, while zinc rose 0.1% to $2,505 and lead edged up 0.2% at $2,121.50.
The dollar charged higher to near an 11-month high on the back of upbeat U.S. job openings data that unexpectedly increased in August, making greenback-priced metals more expensive to holders of other currencies.
The discount of LME cash copper to the three-month contract was at $70 a ton, hovering near its 31-year wide level of $77.50 hit on Tuesday, as on-warrant inventory in LME warehouses of 166,475 tons were at their highest in two years.
The discount of LME cash nickel to the three-month contract expanded to $277.50 a ton on Tuesday, the widest since Aug. 15, as inventories in LME warehouses rose 14% in September alone.
In tin, the cash-three month contango also expanded to $307 a ton on Tuesday, the largest since Sept. 1, also because inventories in LME warehouses leaped to their highest level since April 2020.
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