London copper futures edged lower on Wednesday, trading just short of $8,000 a tonne, after having surged to a 20-month high the previous day as worries persist whether fundamentals can sustain such high prices. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dipped $5 to $7,985 by 0700 GMT, having touched $8,010 in the previous sessions, its highest since August 2008.
Benchmark third-month Shanghai copper fell more sharply, shedding 0.6 percent to 62,750 yuan. Shanghai prices need to do some catching up - the market has risen 4.8 percent this year, versus an 8.3 percent rise on the LME. The gains in the international market have effectively closed any arbitrage trading opportunities and some analysts worry that may prey on Chinese import demand this month and into May.
LME tin pared early gains, rising 0.3 percent. A Singapore-based trader said a 7.7-magnitude earthquake some 200 km (125 miles) west-north-west of the Indonesian coastal town of Sibolga in western Sumatra had sparked some worries about tin supplies from the world's biggest exporter of the metal. But the main producing centre, Bangka Island, lies off the eastern tip of Sumatra, far from the quake's epicentre.