tonne. China's new bank lending hit an all-time high in the first quarter, while broad credit growth quickened as the central bank kept up policy support for the economy after the lifting of stringent COVID-19 curbs. Investors are awaiting U.S. consumer prices data, due later today, and producer prices on Thursday for further clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate path. Also weighing on the market was expectation of rising supply. China's refined copper production in March jumped 14% from a year ago thanks to newly established capacity and sufficient raw materials supply, state-backed research house Antaike said late on Tuesday. Antaike also expected output growth to remain strong this month. Globally, concerns over copper production have eased, after Peru said earlier this week it would hike its copper production by 15% this year to 2.8 million tonnes. Among other metals, LME aluminium climbed 0.3% at $2,309.50 a tonne, lead gained 0.3% at $2,094, zinc added 0.4% at $2,768.50, while tin dipped 0.2% to $23,695 and nickel eased 0.1% at $23,440. The share of Russian aluminium stocks in warehouses registered with the London Metal Exchange (LME) climbed to 53% of the total in March, or 220,575 tonnes, from 41% in January, data on the exchange's website showed on Tuesday. SHFE aluminium was down 0.2% at 18,425 yuan, zinc nudged down 0.1% to 22,020 yuan, while lead edged 0.1% up to 15,290 yuan, tin gained 0.3% to 190,790 yuan, and nickel rose 2.4% to 182,080 yuan a tonne.
For the top stories in metals and other news, click or ($1 = 6.8892 yuan) (Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Varun H K)
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