london copper prices came under pressure on tuesday as worries about demand in top consumer china were reinforced by weak data from the countrys factories and the firmer dollar benchmark copper on the london metal exchange traded down 21 at 7700 a tonne in official rings extending its losses to 7 since friday when prices hit a twomonth high at 8318 a tonne it is on course for its fifth month of consecutive losses chinas manufacturing sector contracted for the second straight month in august as covid19 infections the worst heatwave in decades and an embattled property sector weighed on production suggesting the economy is struggling to sustain momentum advt we dont see a big push in terms of china fostering metals demand we expect the government in china to work towards stabilisation we dont expect a big stimulus said julius baer analyst carsten menke for property its about avoiding a crash on the infrastructure side there is a realisation that it will be hard to move the needle because the base is already so big also weighing on industrial metals is the dollar trading near twodecade highs against other major currencies after hawkish federal reserve comments bolstered expectations of further aggressive hikes in us interest rates a stronger us currency makes dollarpriced metals more expensive for holders of other currencies which could subdue demand this relationship is used by funds to generate buy and sell signals from numerical models the monthly us employment report due on friday will be watched for clues about the magnitude of us interest rate rises and the prospects of recession in the united states elsewhere aluminium prices fell to sixweek lows at 2339 a tonne on expectations of rising supplies from top producer and consumer china after sichuan province resumed power supply to industrial users however traders say the power crisis in europe could result in further curtailments in the production of energyheavy aluminium which would provide support advt aluminium was down 15 at 2356 zinc fell 08 to 3454 lead ceded 2 to 1948 tin dropped 29 to 22975 and nickel slipped 03 to 21310 a tonne reuters published on aug 31 2022 at 0804 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app copper prices copper demand copper pressures raw materials auto parts london metal exchange homenewsauto componentspoor china demand prospects strong dollar pressure copper