The most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 2.4 percent at 47,950 yuan ($7,800) a tonne on Monday on a firmer dollar and worries over top consumer China where a liquidity squeeze may curb demand already hit by slower growth.
"The economic slowdown and the liquidity squeeze will pressure copper prices going forward," said Helen Lau, senior mining and metals analysts at UOB-Kay Hian Securities in Hong Kong. "This will squeeze copper fabricators who need to borrow money from banks to buy copper," said Lau, adding it will also hit the use of the metal in trade financing.