SHANGHAI: Shanghai copper fell more than 2 percent to a three-month low on Monday, weighed down by recent China data and previous losses in London, where it had tumbled 2.8 percent on Friday to breach psychological support of $8,000 a tonne.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange lost a further $54.75 from its previous closing price of $7,990 by 0158 GMT as investors worried about weaker Chinese demand for the metal following weaker-than-expected Chinese economic growth figures last week.
The most-active July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange followed suit on Monday, dropping 2.3 percent at one point to 56,700 yuan ($9,000), the lowest since Jan 11, before trimming some losses to 56,950 yuan.
"The fall in Shanghai copper today was mostly due to LME copper's fall last week. The news over the weekend including those involving Spain's debts, China's slowing power output and the widening of the yuan have caused investors to reevaluate last week's China GDP numbers," said Orient Futures derivatives director Andy Du.
"Investors are not outright pessimistic but just wary. This will cause copper prices to fluctuate in the near term, while they try to eke out new technical ranges," he added.
China's power generation in March increased at the slowest pace in a non-holiday month for a year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday, as demand momentum by the world's top copper consumer continued tapering off along with weakening economic growth.
This came on the heels of last week's Chinese first-quarter growth figure, which was the weakest in almost three years at 8.1 percent below market expectations for growth of 8.3 percent.
Analysts say that Beijing's weekend announcement to widen the yuan's daily trading band against the dollar also caused investors to play it safe as they digested the move along with recent data, trying to understand what they mean for commodities.
The yuan itself opened lower on Monday, more than 0.4 percent weaker than the central bank's mid-point, adding to pressure on Chinese copper buyers.
Financial troubles of economies outside China also factored into the day's cautious mood.
Spain's banks, virtually blocked out of wholesale credit markets, increased their reliance on cheap loans from the European Central Bank in March, borrowing almost double what they did in February.
In the United States, data showed that consumer prices rose modestly in March amid signs a spike in gasoline costs was ebbing, but inflation still outpaced workers' earnings and threatened to undermine spending.
In industry news, the world's top copper producer, Chile's Codelco, bought copper from outside sources earlier this year to meet its deliveries to customers, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
Chinese copper demand this year will grow at least 6.5 percent as the world's top metal consumer's demand remains firm, but market jitters will keep red metal prices volatile, Antofagasta Minerals top executives said on Friday.
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