Shanghai Futures Exchange copper slid 3.6 percent to 33,510 yuan ($5,246) a tonne on Monday, having also hit a six-year low as China's slowing factory demand pushes more supply onto global markets and the dollar strengthens against a slew of other currencies. Shanghai nickel crashed limit down of 6 percent on concerns that China's steel glut would hit other steel-making materials.
Shanghai zinc had a volatile session, before closing up 1.4 percent, supported by last week's news about planned huge supply cuts in China. Investors are turning increasingly bearish on metals. In copper, hedge funds and money managers increased their net short positions by 8,430 lots to 27,827 lots, the biggest such gain since mid-August, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed. In a sign of a possible boost in future demand, China is offering $10 billion in infrastructure loans to Southeast Asian countries, a senior Chinese foreign ministry official said on Sunday.