The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange tumbled to nearly a three-year low at 48,970 yuan a tonne ($7,900) on Monday, which was its weakest since June 2010, before cutting losses to close at 49,040 a tonne, down 2.83 percent on the day and about 15 percent year to date.
"We can see further downside in copper near term, given we've had inventories at multi-year highs amid concerns of a housing bubble and slowing growth in China, and that perhaps the data is not showing how bad the economy is," said Tim Radford, a global analyst at Sydney-based advisor Rivkin. Still, hopes a recovery in Europe and the United States will gain steam, plus the potential that policies from China's new leadership could spark fresh consumer demand suggests further weakness could present a buying opportunity, he said.