Copper slips further below $8,000 as rally runs out of gas

HANOI: London copper slipped on Monday, moving further away from a key $8,000 psychological level hit in the last session as a seven-week rally ran out of steam and the dollar firmed on safe-haven demand.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.6% to $7,938 a tonne by 0300 GMT. It has climbed 81.6% from March lows and added 28.5% so far this year, making it the best performing base metal on the LME.

The most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 0.1% to 59,080 yuan ($9,019.02) a tonne, slipping from its highest since September 2011 of 59,640 yuan hit in the overnight session.

Metals were also under pressure as the greenback climbed against major peers amid tightening COVID-19 lockdowns globally.

A firmer dollar makes greenback-priced LME metals more expensive and therefore less appealing to potential buyers holding other currencies.

But losses in metals were capped by news that the United States was inching closer to a stimulus bill to support the world's largest economy.