Shanghai copper prices dipped on Friday as investors weighed an expected fall in Chinese inventories and renewed weakness in the dollar amid a global equities slump. The most active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 250 yuan, or 0.4 percent to 67,810 yuan per tonne ($8,958).
"There are some shorts out there that are coming out, but the expected decline in stocks should be supportive," said a Shanghai trader. The Shanghai Futures Exchange will announce weekly inventory levels. Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange added 0.5 percent or $40 to $7,800 a tonne.
The metal hit a 10-week high of $8,212 on Monday. US stock markets suffered their worst drop since the last global sell-off in February 27 after weak US housing market data rekindled worries about the world's biggest economy and Asia's top export market.
A jump in oil prices and worsening climate for corporate buyouts also weighed on shares, with Japan's Nikkei average down 2.3 percent on Friday, though Chinese shares stayed buoyant. "China's stocks have not fallen that much and indeed during yesterday's session hit a record high so stocks still look good and it's a boost to the confidence of financial markets," said Li Rong, an analyst at Great Wall Futures in Shanghai.
The dollar hit a three-month trough of 118.02 yen in trade on electronic trading platform EBS, before recovering to just over 119 yen. On the supply side, Chilean copper giant Codelco said on Thursday it had suspended all output from its second-largest division, El Tenant, following protests by striking subcontracted workers.
The division, 50 miles (80 km) south of Santiago, is home to the largest underground copper mine in the world and last year produced 418,300 tonnes of copper, accounting for around 25 percent of Codelco's output.