Behind the price weakness is a weaker than hoped rebound in demand from top consumer China and a gloomy economic outlook elsewhere.
Chinese stock markets fell for a fifth day after last week's first-quarter GDP numbers revealed an uneven rebound and lagging factory and property activity. Caution among investors pushed stock markets down globally and boosted the dollar, hitting metals by making them costlier for buyers holding other currencies. Visible Chinese copper inventories are drawing down, but Yangshan import premiums have slumped to $23 a tonne from $50 in March, pointing to weak demand. On-warrant copper stocks in LME-registered warehouses, meanwhile, rose by 7,000 tonnes to 57,025 tonnes, their highest since mid-January. Copper demand should improve as the year goes on, lifting prices, said WisdomTree analyst Nitesh Shah. "There is more reason to be optimistic than pessimistic," he said.
LME aluminium fell 2% to $2,333 a tonne and was down from a seven-month high of $2,679.50 in January.
Analysts at Citi said that aluminium smelters in China's Yunnan province - which have already cut production capacity by around 2 million tonnes per year - may have to reduce output further because of drought, supporting prices.
LME lead was down 1.4% at $2,114 a tonne even as
concerns about metal availability pushed up the premium for
buying metal tomorrow and selling it the day after - a trade
known as tom-next. Exchange data showed that one entity held more than 50% of
lead warrants, fuelling availability concerns. Benchmark zinc was down 2.4% at $2,607 a tonne,
nickel plunged 5.3% to $23,275 and tin fell 4.3%
to $25,490.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson
Additional reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila
Editing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)
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