(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Mai Nguyen
March 2 (Reuters) - London copper prices fell on
Thursday, weighed down by losses in stock markets, while traders
awaited a key political meeting in top consumer China that is
expected to unveil ambitious economic growth targets and
stimulus measures.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell
0.6% to $9,044 a tonne by 0807 GMT, while the most-traded April
copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed
up 0.2% at 69,780 yuan ($10,097.53) a tonne.
LME aluminium rose 0.1% to $2,434.50 a tonne, zinc edged down 0.1% to $3,110.50 a tonne, lead fell
0.9% to $2,122 a tonne, nickel declined 0.4% to $24,785
a tonne and tin shed 1.3% to $25,000 a tonne.
SHFE aluminium rose 0.5% to 18,650 yuan a tonne,
nickel dropped 3% to 188,180 yuan a tonne, tin fell 0.8% to 204,810 yuan a tonne and zinc advanced 1%
to 23,545 yuan a tonne.
A rally in Asian shares sputtered, while two out of three
major Wall Street stock indexes declined overnight amid fears
that global central banks would keep raising interest rates to
combat sticky inflation.
The dollar index gained 2.7% in February, the biggest
monthly rise since September 2022, making greenback-priced
metals more expensive to holders of other currencies.
Metals prices jumped in the previous session, boosted by
better-than-expected manufacturing activity from China that
expanded at the fastest pace in more than a decade in February.
The manufacturing sector is one of the major consumers of
metals.
Market players are now awaiting China's annual parliament
gathering later this week for clues on any stimulus measures to
boost its economic growth and metals demand.
"After the meeting, China will announce the stimulus it is
doing, so uncertainty fades," said a metals trader, adding that
prices were cushioned by traders buying on the dip.
China is becoming increasingly ambitious with its 2023
growth target, aiming potentially as high as 6%, in a bid to
boost investor and consumer confidence and build on a promising
post-pandemic recovery, sources told Reuters.
For the top stories in metals and other news, click or ($1 = 6.9106 yuan)
(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Varun H K and
Subhranshu Sahu)
mai.nguyen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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