Copper prices slipped on Tuesday, driving the rest of the metals complex lower, as the dollar strengthened although improving signals from China's economy cushioned the fall. With China's markets closed this week, trading volumes were likely to remain thin. The country's stock markets will open again next Monday after the National Day break.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed 0.3 percent lower at $4,805 a tonne. Copper gained 5.4 percent in September, its strongest monthly showing since early 2015, and topped out at $4,889 a tonne on Friday, the highest since August 3.
A flurry of Chinese data is expected to point to a modest improvement in the economy in the third quarter as a government infrastructure spending spree and housing boom fuel demand for anything from steel and glass to furniture and appliances. "We are all much more cautious about China than we used to be but we had some strong data over the quarter, including industrial production numbers," VTB Capital's head of commodity research Wiktor Bielski said.
While a housing revival is fuelling demand for metals, China's authorities, worried about a bubble, are taking action. Four Chinese cities have announced new restrictions on property purchases as the government tries to cool soaring home prices stoked by property speculators in second- and third-tier cities across the country. The dollar rose 0.6 percent against a basket of currencies, helped by sterling's fall to a 31-year low against the US currency on concerns about the impact of Britain's departure from the European Union.
Indonesia is still considering whether to resume nickel ore exports amid broader talks on mining rules in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, the mining minister said on Tuesday, and expects to make a decision within weeks. Three-month nickel closed down $270 at $10,080 a tonne, within sight of an earlier two-week low of $10,055. Aluminium closed down 0.5 percent at $1,669 a tonne. In other metals, lead and zinc closed 1 percent lower at $2,075 a tonne and $2,380 a tonne respectively. Tin closed at $19,875 a tonne, down 0.3 percent.