BEIJING, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Copper prices dipped on
Friday, heading for a weekly loss, as soft global demand weighed
on sentiment despite the latest supply disruptions.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was
down 0.2% at $9,038 a tonne by 0158 GMT. For the week so far,
the contract is down 2.4%.
Citi Research economists believe a softer-than-anticipated
China recovery and sustained manufacturing sector weakness
outside of China will keep metals demand under pressure.
U.S. manufacturing contracted further in January as higher
interest rates stifled demand for goods, but factories did not
appear to be laying off workers in large numbers. The dollar on Friday recovered from a heavy selloff in the
aftermath of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech, and
against a basket of currencies, making it less attractive for
non-dollar holders to buy the greenback-priced commodity. Investors now eye a jobs report in the United States due
later in the day. The strength of the labour market is a key
concern for the Fed, which announced a 25 basis-points interest
rate hike Wednesday.
The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai
Futures Exchange inched 1% down at 68,490
yuan($10,157.95) a tonne.
Among other metals, LME aluminium dipped 0.3% to
$2,608 a tonne, tin eased 1.3% to $28,995 a tonne and
zinc fell 1% to $3,348 a tonne, while lead advanced 0.5% to $2,144 a tonne.
SHFE aluminium slid 0.3% at 19,060 yuan a tonne,
while lead inched 0.1% down to 15,290 yuan a tonne,
while nickel added 0.6% to 222,150 yuan a tonne and
zinc was up 0.2% at 24,205 yuan a tonne.
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(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; editing by
Uttaresh.V)
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