Mumbai, 17 Apr (Commoditiescontrol): London Metal Exchange (LME) base metal prices softened on Wednesday, pressured down by a strong U.S. dollar and demand concerns amid economic headwinds in top metals consumer China.
Three-month copper on the LME was 0.1% lower at $9,454.50 per metric ton, extending declines from Tuesday.
The most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) fell 0.7% to 76,540 yuan ($10,576.21) per ton.
The dollar index hovered around a five-month high, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that the U.S. central bank may need to keep rates higher for longer as inflation remains sticky. A stronger dollar makes it more expensive to buy the greenback-priced commodity.
Although China's first quarter economic growth beat expectation, its March industrial output and retail sales grew fell below what analysts' had anticipated.
Weak demand in China and war escalation would weigh on global economic growth, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, eyeing a slow but steady growth for 2024 and 2025.
LME aluminium slid 0.4% to $2,552.50 a ton, zinc dropped 0.7% to $2,753, lead fell 0.4% to $2,139, nickel nudged 0.1% lower at $17,705 and tin lost 1.1% to $31,480.
SHFE aluminium declined 0.9% to 20,235 yuan a ton, nickel dropped 1.6% to 134,040 yuan, zinc shed 0.2% to 22,425 yuan, and tin was down 2.2% to 250,960 yuan, while lead added 0.1% to 16,845 yuan.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau: 09820130172)
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