Shanghai copper slips

The most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped 1.6 percent to end at the session's low of 49,720 yuan ($8,064) per tonne on Wednesday, its weakest since July 24. China's refined copper imports fell 8.2 percent from a year ago to 255,041 tonnes in June despite recent robust manufacturing data.
"It may indicate that even as underlying economic data in China improves, the growing scrutiny on China's copper financing trade may weaken China's apparent copper demand and keep copper prices under pressure," Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note. In Shanghai, zinc closed down 1.1 percent at 16,875 yuan a tonne and lead sank almost 2 percent to 14,690 yuan.