The most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.2 percent to 45,230 yuan ($7,358) a tonne on Wednesday as ongoing credit difficulties in top consumer China and a stronger dollar checked bargain hunting, after prices dropped to 4-1/2-year lows earlier this week. "It just seems like there is so much less activity because of the credit constraints in China," said analyst Joel Crane of Morgan Stanley in Melbourne.
China's services sector grew marginally faster in November, surveys showed, a welcome respite to a run of underwhelming data from the world's No 2 economy as it faces its worst slowdown in at least six years. "In general, things remain OK. Globally monetary policy is still accommodative, China is going to be more accommodative, so 2015 will look better ... But I can't imagine a whole lot of positivity until we've got Christmas behind us," Crane said. Premiums for copper in bonded warehouses in China were stagnant at $60 a tonne, suggesting consumers have not rushed to purchase metals after prices fell.