London copper fell nearly 1 percent on Wednesday weighed by a rise in the dollar and concern about a supply surplus in China, the world's top consumer of industrial metals. Sluggish spot prices in China imply that demand in the physical market is rather weak, analysts and traders said. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 1 percent to $7,773 a tonne by 0701 GMT, after hitting a 19-month high of $7,878 in the previous session.
Shanghai's benchmark third-month copper futures contract ended down 0.6 percent to 61,320 yuan a tonne, on a winning run of five-straight quarters, with a 2.4-percent gain. The most-active contract for July delivery was down 0.7 percent at 61,630 yuan a tonne. Spot copper was quoted at 60,325 yuan a tonne, about 400 yuan lower than the front-month futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. LME copper stood at a 752-yuan premium to Shanghai copper.
LME aluminium inched down $2 to $2,292 a tonne, after hitting a more than 2-month high of 2,314.50 in the previous session, on course for a fourth quarter of straight gains. LME zinc, snapping a four-quarter winning run, is heading for a quarterly loss of 9 percent. LME nickel was down $20 to $24,280 a tonne, but on course for a 31-percent gain this quarter, the biggest quarterly gain among all LME-traded metals.