Copper hit a four-month low on Monday as political deadlock in Greece kept alive the risk of the country leaving the euro zone and as investors worried about slowing growth in top copper consumer China. China cut the amount of cash banks must hold as reserves in a bid to boost lending and spur growth, but the move only served to heighten concerns about a deepening slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.
In Europe, with efforts to patch together a Greek government looking doomed, policymakers warned the country it could not remain in the euro zone if it ripped up its bailout programme. The region's finance ministers, gathering in Brussels, also face a worsening fiscal position in Spain.
"The euro zone remains in focus and the break below key support at $8,000 (a tonne) saw further liquidation in copper with the market still under heavy pressure from macro jitters and also following disappointing euro zone manufacturing output," said VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell more than 2 percent to c lose a t $7,83 5 a tonne, from a f inish at $8,013 on Friday, after sinking as low as $7,813 earlier, its weakest since January 12.
Latest LME data showed copper stocks fell 2,975 tonnes to 218,300 tonnes, the lowest since October 2008 and equivalent to four days of global consumption. This failed to lift copper prices, however, especially after the premium for cash copper over the three-month price narrowed to $37.50 at one point, from more than $110 last week - indicating nearby supply tightness could be easing.
In China, investors were considering whether its move to cut bank reserve ratios was behind the curve, coming as it has after data last week showing the world's No 2 economy slowed further in April. "It's not about liquidity, it's about real demand. So the liquidity improvement will not help because there's simply no demand out there," said Henry Liu, head of commodity research at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong.
Soldering metal tin closed at $20,050 a tonne from $20,475, having hit a four-month low of $20,007 a tonne earlier. Indonesia, the world's largest tin exporter, plans to introduce new quotas to limit mineral exports, as well as a 20 percent duty on mineral exports by certain companies, Indonesian government officials said on Friday. Zinc, used to galvanise steel, closed at $1,920 from $1,948, having hit a four-month low of $1,905 earlier, despite a 2,400 tonne drop in LME stock to 930,925 tonnes, with nearly 4 percent of that number earmarked to leave warehouses.
Battery material lead finished at $2,035.50 a tonne from $2,072, aluminium at $2,025 a tonne from $2,045 having hit a 4-1/2 month floor of $2,019 a tonne earlier. Russia's UC RUSAL Plc, the world's biggest aluminium producer, posted an 84 percent drop in first-quarter net profit as prices fell, potentially fuelling a shareholder row over the company's refusal to sell its stake in Norilsk Nickel. Stainless-steel ingredient nickel closed at $16, 875 a tonne from $17,195, having hit a 5-1/2 month low of $16,8 74 a tonne earlier.