Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) shed 0.8% to $2,378 a tonne by 0739 GMT while nickel dropped 0.9% to $24,250, zinc lost 1% to $2,692 and lead fell 0.8% to $2,143. LME copper edged up by 0.1% to $8,804 a tonne and tin lost 1.4% to $26,225. The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 0.9% to 68,370 yuan ($9,908.26) a tonne while nickel tumbled 3.2% to 181,900 yuan and aluminium declined 0.9% to 18,835 yuan. SHFE zinc dropped 2.6% to 21,430 yuan a tonne, tin fell 1.8% to 211,670 yuan and lead was down 0.3% at 15,300 yuan. Strong business activity in the U.S. and Euro zone reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates further as markets cautiously enter a week packed with economic data and central bank meetings. Higher interest rates could lead to a stronger U.S. currency, which makes dollar-priced metals more expensive to buyers holding other currencies. Meanwhile, an uneven economic recovery in China also weighed on demand for metals in the world's biggest metals consumer. "(Copper) consumption weakened again in April from the previous quarter ... Enterprises generally reported that orders fell on a quarter-on-quarter basis," brokerage Jinrui Futures said in a note.
The Yangshan copper premium fell to $23 a tonne, its lowest since March 10. For the top stories in metals and other news, click or ($1 = 6.9003 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi Editing by Sohini Goswami, Sonia Cheema and David Goodman )
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