China demand blues push copper to lowest in more than two weeks

 (Updates with official prices, adds aluminium stocks)
 By Pratima Desai
 April 24 (Reuters) - Copper prices fell to their lowest
in more than two weeks on Monday as the market focused on
lacklustre demand in top consumer China while a softer dollar
helped to cap losses.
 Benchmark copper  on the London Metal Exchange (LME)
traded 0.2% down at $8,776 a tonne in official rings, having
earlier touched $8,739 for its lowest since April 5.
 Hopes for stronger copper demand in China after the removal
of COVID restrictions have proved forlorn so far, with activity
in the manufacturing sector sector growing more slowly than
expected.
 "China reopening euphoria has faded. This is not a surprise
as we thought from the beginning that this recovery would be
services driven," Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke said, adding
that an inventory overhang of manufactured goods was also
weighing on demand.
 Weak demand in China can be seen in the Yangshan copper
premium  , which has more than halved to $23 a tonne
since March 17.
 Elsewhere, traders are watching on the large holdings of
warrants and cash contracts for LME lead  , which has
fuelled worries about near-term supplies and created a hefty
premium for cash metal over the three-month contract.
 The premium  hit $35.25 a tonne on Friday for its
highest since early January. It was last at $31.75 a tonne.
 Three-month lead was down 1.3% at $2,131.
 In the aluminium market, the focus was on the recent
cancellation of warrants to take delivery of 10,200 tonnes from
LME-registered warehouses in Gwangyang, where there has been a
build up of Russian metal.
 "We believe it is genuine demand," Marex said in a note.
"Some of our Far East client base has been looking for warrants
of late."
 Industrial metals found some support from the dollar, which
has fallen on perceptions that the U.S. Federal Reserve will
raise interest rates less aggressively than previously expected.
 A weaker U.S. currency makes dollar-priced metals cheaper
for buyers holding other currencies.  
 In other metals, aluminium  slipped 1% to $2,372.5 a
tonne, zinc  ceded 1.5% to $2,678, tin  was little
changed at $26,600 and nickel was down 1.3% at $24,150.
 
 

 (Reporting by Pratima Desai
Editing by David Goodman)
 ((pratima.desai@thomsonreuters.com))
 
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