LONDON: Copper prices fell on Tuesday to their lowest in two weeks, after top metal consumer China failed to convince investors on how its stimulus would get the economy back on track.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell earlier to $9,700 per metric ton, the lowest level since Sept. 24. It last traded 1.8% lower at $9,745 a ton as at 1026 GMT.
“There had been overshoot in copper prices as the market priced in Chinese stimulus package as a game-changer but it now looks hesitant,” a trader said.
Copper prices hit four-month high last week, after China announced its biggest stimulus package since the pandemic. Analysts had anticipated bold moves on lifting the heavily-indebted property sector that weighed on consumer confidence.
But a briefing on Tuesday provided little details on the stimulus other than a repeat of China’s “full confidence” in achieving its full-year growth target.
Industrial metals fell as the market worried that already announced measures will only help stabilize growth but may not be enough to support a rebound, said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.
Copper under pressure ahead of China stimulus briefing
Disappointment over the stimulus sent Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index 9.4% lower on Tuesday - its heaviest fall since 2008, with record falls in property stocks, and also ate into the blue-chip CSI 300 index gains.
Shares of copper miners, which sell to China, also dropped.
For other metals, LME aluminium also dropped 2.8% to $2,584, its biggest decline in over four months.
Nickel fell 2.7% to $17,580 despite production disruption in Vale’s Onca Puma nickel plant and Madagascar’s miner Ambatovy.
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