Shanghai copper fell as much as 1 percent to a six-and-a-half-month low on Wednesday as renewed worries about credit curbs on China's property developers fed into wider concerns about global demand, cutting buying interest in metals. Shanghai copper has lost ground this week after weekend reports that some Chinese banks were drawing back credit to property developers.
The appeal of copper imports, often used to finance property investments, were also blunted by falling property prices, said Chunlan Li, analyst at Beijing-based consultancy CRU. "Worries about risks to the Chinese economy are pushing prices down. At the same time, demand has not resumed after the holiday - operating rates at end users are still not very good," she said.
"Weak demand and high supply is one of the reasons behind the negative sentiment right now which is likely to continue. If demand picks up in March, prices will bounce back." The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell to 49,280 yuan ($8,000) a tonne, its lowest since August 7, before partially erasing losses to trade at 49,650 yuan at 0303 GMT, down 0.3 percent.
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