Shanghai Futures Exchange copper ended 0.26 percent lower at 38,510 yuan ($6,078) on Tuesday on festering worries over demand in top metals consumer China, but aluminium prices gained as US producing giant Alcoa Inc cut output to attack a supply glut. Stronger Chinese appetite for copper in recent weeks is unlikely to last, according to industry sources and a delve into data.
The Caixin/Markit China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for October came in at 48.3 on Monday, showing factory activity shrinking for the eighth consecutive month. However, the export component rose to 50.7, the first expansion since June. "We saw some contraction in copper later in the day as sentiment again turned down on copper's prospects," said a metals trader in Sydney. "We expect demand to rise by more than 5 percent over the whole of 2015, fuelled by substitution in the automotive and power sectors," Capital Economics said in a research note.