Shanghai copper falls

London copper fell 1 percent on Thursday, reversing a similar rise early in the day, dipping to its lowest in nearly a month as pressure grew on base metals from the economic threat posed by surging oil prices. Shanghai's most active May copper contract fell 0.4 to 71,420 yuan. China's arrivals of refined copper rose 7.4 percent in January from the previous month due to restocking by fabricators, reversing a 1.6 percent fall in December.
Imports rose to 245,617 tonnes in January, up from 228,609 tonnes in December, the data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday. The inflow surged 24.5 percent from a year earlier. "The monthly increase is probably good news for copper prices, but it needs to be noted that a fair amount of copper was imported at the end of last and at the beginning of the this year as a form of trade finance when money flow was tightened," said Fang Junfeng, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures, adding that February imports likely shrank due to the Lunar New Year holiday.